Red Roses
by nikkimurray
Summary: A bunch of red roses stood tall and proud on her table as she walked through the door . . .
1. A romantic gesture?

**This is not the most original storyline in the world, but it just popped into my head so I thought I'd take a wack at it :D It's perhaps a little disturbing, and I might change the rating higher as the story progresses for various reasons! It is inspired by a one tree hill episode I watched the other day, so I hope you read and enjoy! I'll update as often as possible!**

* * *

Chapter 1

_Bang bang bang_

Jenny pulled her handgun back and reloaded it. As quick as a flash, she took aim again and fired. The target in front of her was covered in bullet holes; most of them through the central area. She lowered her gun and pulled off her goggles, flicking her hair out as she did so.

"I told you I'd win," she said triumphantly, looking over at Cutter who was slamming his own goggles down in frustration.

"It was a lucky shot," he sniffed.

"Which one? The first ten or the last?" she teased, unloading her gun.

"You know, gloating isn't your most attractive quality," Cutter pointed out as they made their way back to the ARC's main room.

"Then what is?" she asked with a smirk.

"It's not so much a quality as an asset," Cutter grinned, tapping her backside as they walked.

"Not at work," she chided in a mock-insulted voice, slapping his arm.

"I'm just answering your question," he smiled as he pulled the door and held it open for her.

"Well I'll remind Abby and Sarah not to ask you anything in the future if that's how you answer a question."

"Shame," Cutter sighed jokingly, but when Jenny shot him a look of disgust, he continued, "don't worry, these hands fondle you and you alone."

"Lucky me," she mocked.

"I didn't here you complain last night," Cutter whispered in her ear as they entered the main room.

"Which just shows that I should never let you get me _that_ drunk," Jenny retorted with a smile; she wondered if the amusement she got from winding him up would ever disappear.

"Liar, you loved it," he smirked, squeezing her arm. "Oh," he added in a whisper, "could we keep the whole you beating me thing between the two of us?"

"Of course," Jenny soothed, fighting back the urge to laugh.

He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and walked away towards the research lab. Jenny joined Abby and Sarah in the main computer room; the latter was doing research and Abby was sitting on the desk, swinging her legs as she chatted.

"Did you win?" Sarah asked Jenny as she sat down next to her.

"Yes, of course I did," Jenny replied as she rummaged in her briefcase for the reports that needed typing up.

"Good," Sarah said with a smile, returning her gaze to her computer screen.

"Poor Cutter," Abby sniggered.

"It's his own fault for challenging me in the first place," Jenny pointed out. "He knows I'm good."

"It must dent his pride a bit that his girlfriend is a better shot than him,"Abby reasoned. "You should have let him win."

"God no, I'd never hear the end of it," Jenny laughed.

* * *

That night, Jenny opened the door to her house and threw the keys on the side table as usual. She wasn't spending the night here; she was just picking up some clothes to go and sleep at Cutter's ('sleep' being a term used loosely). The first thing that struck her attention was a vase of red roses that were perched on the hall table. They certainly hadn't been there this morning. And had it now become the custom for delivery men to break into your home and arrange your flowers for you?

Curiously, she approached them and picked up the card that was next to it . . .

_I will love you for ever _

That was it; that was all it said.

Confused, Jenny turned over the card, but there was no symbol or sign of the flower shop on it - it looked as though it had been hand written and hand-delivered. Then it struck her; she had told Cutter where her spare key was hidden incase he ever needed it. Smiling, she re-read the card, feeling a familiar tingling sensation from some-where around her midriff . . . this was really sweet. And it was unusually romantic for Cutter to do something like this; he was just not the soppy type of man, just like she wasn't the soppy type of woman. However, she could certainly get used to gestures like this.

Grabbing her things together, she left and was knocking at Cutter's not long after. As soon as he answered, Jenny flung her stuff on the floor and pulled him into a kiss. He gasped slightly, having been caught by surprise, but recovered himself and closed the door with foot as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in tighter. Then, he pulled away.

"What was that for?" he asked, sounding breathless but pleased.

"I thought because you offered me a romantic gesture, I could return the favour," she smiled, pulling him in again.

"What gesture?" he enquired, his voice muffled in her lips.

"The roses," she said as she pulled away again, slightly aspirated that he wasn't quicker on the uptake. "The ones you left in my place? They're beautiful."

"Well I'm glad you think so," Cutter said, pushing her away slightly with his hands on her upper arms. "But I didn't send you any flowers."

"It wasn't you?"

"It wasn't me," he confirmed, shaking his head.

"Are you sure?" Jenny asked, bemused.

"I think I'd remember," Cutter answered, laughing slightly.

"But if you didn't . . ." Jenny trailed off, feeling confused.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing," she shook her head, not wanting to sound mental.

"Should I be jealous? Has someone been trying to romance you with roses?" Cutter asked, a trace of humor in his voice.

"No," Jenny said, waving an unconcerned hand in the air. "They're probably off someone in my family."

"Well as long as I've got no competition," he grinned, tracing a line down her neck with his lips.

Usually, it drove Jenny wild when he did that, but right now, her mind was elsewhere.

As he walked of towards the kitchen, Jenny pulled out the card from her pocket.

_I will love you forever_

The hairs on the back of Jenny's neck seemed prickle as she read these words again. Who was it from? How had they gotten into her house?

"Jenny, do you want red wine or white?" Cutter asked, poking his head back around the kitchen door.

Jenny immediately shoved the card back in her pocket and out of sight.

"Red please," she answered, adopting a false-cheery voice.

* * *

**Dun dun dun! who could they be from . . .**

**Review if you can find the time, and as you do, picture me doing this when i read your comments :D lol x**


	2. Messages from noone

Chapter 2

_Ring ring . . . ring ring . . . ring ring . . ._

Jenny groaned in frustration and turned over, snuggling in more deeply into the warm bed and pretending that she couldn't hear Cutter's mobile buzzing on the bedside table. She felt Cutter lean over her, grumbling as he picked up his phone and flipped it open.

"Yeah?" he mumbled sleepily.

"We've got another one," Conner's voice emanated out of the phone.

"No, no, no . . ." Jenny insisted, her heart sinking as pressed the pillow over ears; she couldn't remember the last time she'd had a decent nights sleep.

"Where?" Cutter demanded, all tiredness vanishing from his voice.

"It's in a park . . . should be empty this time of night," Conner's voice said.

"That's because normal people get to sleep this time of night!" Jenny yelled at Conner, still not bothering to get up.

"Is she okay?" Jenny heard Conner asking Cutter.

"She'll be fine," Cutter said, placing a hand on her hip. "I just need to get some coffee into her and we'll meet you there."

He closed the phone with a snap and sprung out of bed as though he'd been awake for hours.

"Come on sleeping beauty," he said, sounding amused as he pulled his pants on.

Jenny pushed the alarm clock button so that the time flashed up . . . 3:30am! They'd only gone to sleep a couple of hours ago.

Muttering under her breath about hating this job, she got up slowly and started to dress, her brain still sluggish.

"God, you are really not a morning person are you?" Cutter asked, still sounding annoyingly wide-awake.

"I happen to like my sleep," Jenny answered as she buttoned her blouse, her eyes still half closed. "It keeps me pretty . . . and stops me from killing my irritating boyfriend."

"Well for my own safety, I'm going to go and make you a vat of coffee for the journey," he said, his voice shaking laughter as he planted a kiss in her tousled hair.

Zipping up her skirt and feeling slightly more awake, Jenny grabbed her bag from the chair and pulled out her mobile to check if she had any missed calls. She didn't, but one missed message bleeped up from an unknown number.

_I hope you liked the roses, but they are not half as beautiful as you. _

Jenny stared at the phone in horror. Surely this had to be a wind up? She pressed reply and typed in 'who is this?', but when she pressed send, her phone informed her that the number was barred - it was a private number.

"Hurry up!" Cutter's voice echoed up the stairs. "The anomaly will be gone before you've finished putting your make-up on!"

"I'm coming!" she shouted back, snapping her phone shut and trying to push it to the back of her mind.

It was probably just someone messing around . . . nonetheless, she immediately thought that she would not keep a spare key in the plant pot anymore .

Obviously someone knew where it was.

Cutter was already in the driving seat in the car waiting for her. As she got in, he handed her a flask of coffee with a smile, but the worry must have shown on her face, as he frowned as his eyes searched her face.

"You alright?" he asked, looking concerned.

She turned to look at him; should she tell him? After a slight pause;

"I'm fine," she said as she snapped her seatbelt into place.

She'd only worry him if she told him, and she could handle this herself . . . it was just someone's idea of a joke.

* * *

It was a horrible night, which consisted of them running around a pitch black park until dawn searching for a tiny little Allosaurus that was apparently enjoying the children's play area more than it enjoyed it's home in the past. After much cajoling and tempting with a piece or raw beef, they finally managed to get the little dinosaur back through the anomaly before it closed.

"That thing was horrible," Jenny was saying as they walked down the ARC corridor.

"Oh it was only a baby," Abby insisted, waving the matter off as though it was nothing.

"Well it had it's adult teeth," Jenny pointed out, grimacing down at her mud-caked clothes.

"It's a good job it was only an infant," Cutter interjected. "Fully grown, there top predators in the Jurassic - "

Jenny's phone buzzed in her pocket.

"Hang on," she mouthed to Cutter. "Hello?" she answered her phone.

Silence.

Confused, Jenny pulled the phone away and looked at it to make sure she had actually answered it.

"Hello?" she repeated.

She could hear someone breathing down the other side of the phone.

"Who is this?" she demanded.

Cutter was staring at her with a quizzical look on his face. She put her hand over the mouth piece of the phone.

"Bad reception," she lied to Cutter as she walked away. "I'm just going to take it over here."

When she was sure Cutter couldn't hear, she put the phone back to her ear.

"Listen," she hissed down the phone. "I don't care who you are you little freak, but just leave me alone, do you hear me? Don't call me again."

She could still her the quiet breathing down the phone as she snapped it shut, feeling bemused and slightly disgusted.

"Everything okay?" Cutter's voice said behind her, making her jump slightly.

"It's fine," she said untruthfully, turning round to him with a fake smile hitched on her face. "It was a wrong number."

Cutter nodded, but he continued to survey her with a slightly suspicions look in his eyes.

"Come on," she sighed in an attempt to change the subject, placing her hand on his shoulder. "We've got about a million reports to fill in before we can get out of here."

* * *

**Creepy *shudders***

**Let me know what you think so far x**


	3. MSN

Chapter 3

A few weeks passed without any other incidences occurring, and so Jenny had started to relax and become herself again. Who ever was doing it had obviously become bored and gave up as she knew they would eventually. She was relieved to say the least, as it was rather hard to explain to Cutter why she had gotten a padlock fitted on her door and why she no longer kept a spare key out for him. A few times, he had been forced to wait outside her house if she was running late getting out of the ARC. But that all seemed to be behind her now, and she was glad that she hadn't mentioned anything to Cutter, not to mention Sarah and Abby; what sort of woman gets scared about a bunch of roses and a lousy phone call? She would have felt really silly if she had told them how worried she'd been.

One Sunday, she was curled up on her couch with a magazine on her lap; it was one of those rare moments in her life that she wasn't busy with work or Cutter or her friends - she had a few hours to herself, and she was taking advantage of it by doing absolutely nothing. Her laptop was on the coffee table and msn was on; she had been talking to Sarah on it earlier and hadn't bothered to turn it off. So absorbed was she in an article about whether leg-warmer's were making a come back (which she certainly hoped were not), that she jumped slightly as a message bleeped up. She put the magazine down and pulled the laptop towards her, and was confused for a moment, unable to believe her eyes. It was Cutter . . . she was certain that he didn't have an msn account . . . that was very odd . . . she added him anyway.

**Ncutter02: **just wanted you to know I think you're so hot x x x

She smiled warmly as she replied.

**X0MissLewis0X:** y thank u, wen did u get msn? X

**Ncutter02: **today so I could tell you I can't wait to run my lips over your bare skin x x x

Jenny hesitated for a second, the smile vanishing from her face. That was a tad full on for Cutter . . .

**X0MissLewis0X**: r u drunk?

**Ncutter02: **no, I was just thinking about you. I can't wait to screw you again

Jenny put the laptop down and stood up, surveying it with confusion. It wasn't like Cutter to be so . . . well . . . so forward. She picked up her house phone and called him, pacing back and forth.

"Hello?" he answered cheerfully.

"Hi," she said, rather breathless. "Are you on msn right now?"

"No, I don't have msn why?" he replied, sounding perplexed.

Jenny almost dropped the phone as realization hit her hard.

It wasn't him.

She stared at the computer screen numbly as another message bleeped up.

**Ncutter02:** there aren't enough hrs in the day for what i cud do 2 you

"Jenny? What's the matter?" Cutter's voice made her jump.

"Can you come and pick me up?" she asked desperately, all dignity flushed down the toilet.

"Of course I can, why?" Cutter demanded, sounding worried.

"Please, just come, I'll explain when you get here," she said, hanging up before he could ask any more question.

She looked back at the screen just in time to see another message appear, so obscene and so graphic that she put her hands to her mouth and gasped. Not wanting to see it anymore, she closed the laptop with a snap and backed away from it as though it was about to attack her. She went out into the kitchen and waited impatiently for Cutter to arrive, her thoughts running a mile a minute. Who would do something like that? Who would go to so much trouble to set up a fake account on msn? Someone who obviously knows she's dating Cutter, or they wouldn't have used him as a username. It was starting to really creep her out now . . .

She jumped violently as the doorbell rang, signaling the arrival of Cutter. She opened the door, and as soon as she saw his face, full of concern, she broke down, unable to hold in the tears that had been threatening to engulf her since she had phoned him.

"What's the matter?" he asked desperately, putting her arms around her.

She couldn't speak . . . she couldn't bring herself to explain, partially because she didn't want to say it, but a small part of her still wondered if she was overreacting.

"What's going on?" he asked more forcefully, pulling away from her holding her by her shoulders.

She opened her mouth to speak, but her voice wouldn't come; what if he thought she was bonkers?

"Jenny, _what is going on?" _he demanded, sounding frustrated.

Instead of explaining it to him, she decided it would be better to show him instead. So she led him silently into the living room, and opened the laptop, standing back and letting him read the msn conversion for himself. She watched as his face went from confused, to dam-right furious as he got to the end of the conversation.

"Who is this?" he asked, pointing to the screen.

"I thought it was you - " she tried to explain.

"You thought I'd speak to you like that?" he exclaimed, sounding disgusted.

"No, as soon as they started talking like that, I knew it wasn't you. That's why I phoned you."

Cutter fell silent, staring back at the screen in deep thought.

"Has anything else like this happened?" he asked, sounding slightly calmer.

"A few weeks ago, someone let themselves into my house and set up roses for me in a vase. And they left a note saying 'I will love you forever' and then a text message off a private number saying something like 'I hoped you liked the roses but they're not as beautiful as you'. And they've phoned me once, but didn't say anything - "

"And you didn't tell me?" Cutter asked in disbelief.

"I just thought it was someone messing around . . ." Jenny explained, running her hands through her hair. "I thought I could handle it myself."

Cutter rubbed his forehead with his hand and was silent for a moment.

"I think we should call the police," he said eventually.

"No," Jenny replied immediately, shaking her head. "I don't want to make a fuss about it. They'll get bored eventually - "

"Jenny, some of the stuff they're saying to you," he said gently, gesturing at the screen again. "Some of it's really graphic."

"I know," Jenny sighed, "But I just think we should let it run it's course . . . there bound to get bored when they don't get a rise out of me."

"But - "

"No Nick; no police."

"So I'm supposed to do nothing when some nutter out there is upsetting you like this," Cutter argued, putting the laptop down on the couch and standing up.

"I'm not upset," Jenny insisted untruthfully. "I was just . . . in shock . . ."

Cutter surveyed her for a moment with a furrowed brow; she knew he was aware she was lying, but he also knew she hated to be mollycoddled.

"Alright," he nodded after a long pause. "But you're staying with me for a while. No arguments," he added when she opened her mouth.

In truth, she wasn't about to argue anyway; she would never admit it, but she was secretly hoping that he would ask her to stay at his place for a little bit. She was a bit too freaked out to be able to sleep here alone after what had happened; the person who was doing this knew a little bit too much about her life for her liking.

* * *

Later on that night, Jenny was in Cutter's house, cuddled into him on the couch watching Sex and the City that, for once, he didn't complain about sitting through. In her opinion, he felt a bit guilty about his reaction when he had seen the msn conversation, but to be fair on him, it didn't make comfortable reading, especially since that weirdo was impersonating him. He obviously knew her well enough not to fuss, however; he just provided her with silent reassurance, which was all she needed from him.

* * *

**I hope everyone's enjoying this slightly chilling story!**

**Review if you can x**


	4. Trashed

Chapter 4

Jenny had packed enough things to be able to stay at Cutter's for about five days, but after that, she need to go home and pick up some more things or else risk having to go to work in one of Cutter's shirts. He had insisted on coming with her of course - he had become fiercely overprotective of her since this whole thing had began, which she didn't really mind. Although it did make her laugh from time to time to think that she spent her life chasing after prehistoric beasts, and yet one freak had scared the hell out of her with a few words. She pointed this out to him as she unlocked her front door.

"Well sometimes people can be a million times scarier than wild animals, irrespective of what time zones the animals are from," Cutter pointed out wisely as she opened the door.

"Yes, and I seem to attract them - " Jenny began to say, but she stopped mid-sentence as she beheld the sight in front of her.

Her hall way was trashed.

Pictures that had hung on the wall had been torn down; their frames smashed into pieces that littered the carpet. There was papers strewn all over the place, as well as books and ornaments that littered the floor. In the midst of this mess, a single red rose lay casually on top of a pile of papers.

"Oh my God," Jenny breathed, about to walk inside.

"Wait Jenny," Cutter exclaimed, grabbing her shoulder to stop her.

He slipped past her and looked around, only turning to her when he was sure the hall was safe.

"Call the police," he said quietly. "Now."

She obeyed without hesitation, never feeling so terrified in her entire life. Her fingers trembled as she dialed 999, and her voice shook as she spoke.

"Police please . . . I've been broken in to . . ."

* * *

"Well Miss Lewis, I can see no sign of forced entry anywhere which leads me to believe they had a key," the police officer informed her as he re-entered the living room.

Jenny was sitting on the couch in the living room, which was just as trashed as the rest of the house. She was staring blankly into space; how could this be happening to her? Surely this type of thing only happened in films? Cutter had a protective arm around her; his face was a white as a sheet and he looked furious.

"Did anyone else have a key?" the officer prompted, taking a seat on the chair and pulling out a note book.

"No," Jenny replied numbly. "I kept a spare key under the plant pot, but I stopped doing that after the first break in."

She had already explained about the roses, the text, and the msn conversation (which he had insisted on being printed out).

"Is anything missing?" the officer asked, making a note in his pad.

"Nothing big," Jenny answered. "Some jewelry, my perfume and some photographs, and . . . some other personal things."

"Such as?" he persisted.

"Some of my underwear," she said quietly, cringing with embarrassment.

The police man didn't seem at all perplexed by this, however, and merely gave her a look of sympathy.

"Miss Lewis, these things don't seem like the sort of stuff a burglar would take," he said softly. "They wouldn't usually by pass your television and laptop and rummage through your underwear draw instead. In my opinion . . . you have a stalker."

"A stalker?" Cutter repeated, looking surprised.

"Yes, it's more common than you might think."

"But who on earth would want to stalk me?" Jenny asked in disbelief.

"Well, it could be anyone," the officer explained. "Old boyfriends, colleagues, friends. Do you have any recent ex's?"

"Mark," Jenny said, her hand trembling as she brushed her hair away from her face.

"Ex-husband?"

"Ex-fiancé."

"Is he the type to do this?" the officer probed.

Jenny shook her head honestly - she knew the man was no saint, but she doubted very much that he'd be pathetic enough to stalk her.

"Well you'd be surprised," the police man said as he made another note on his pad. "Most of the time, the stalker is someone the person knows and even trusts. It only takes the tiniest things to set these psychopaths off. What's Mark's last name?"

"Banks," Jenny answered, feeling a slight pang of guilt - she may have no loyalty to the man anymore, but she had shared a huge chunk of her life with him and she had no desire to have him hauled into a police station for questioning about this absurd crime.

"Was he ever violent towards you?"

"No," she replied bluntly.

She felt Cutter's arm around her stiffen slightly, probably because it must seem like she was being a tad protective over her ex. But it wasn't that - she knew Mark, and she knew he wouldn't do anything like this.

"Okay, and is there anyone else that springs to mind? Anyone else we could investigate?"

As soon as he said that, an image of a person she detested came to mind, but she couldn't justify it to the policeman, so she shook her head and looked at the floor.

"Well if you do think of anyone else, or if anything else happens, let us know immediately," the officer said as he stood up. "I assume you can find alternative accommodation for a while - ?"

"She's staying with me," Cutter said quickly. "But this all . . . I mean . . . they'll get bored eventually won't they?"

The policeman looked uncomfortable and took a few moments to respond.

"It's usually the case with stalkers that they get more and more fixated on their object of desire as time goes on - but it's nothing to worry about," he added, obviously seeing the horrified look on Jenny's face. "We take these case's very seriously . . . and we've took fingerprints . . . we'll find them Miss, don't worry."

Jenny nodded, not feeling terribly reassured.

As soon as the police officers had left, Jenny turned to Cutter.

"Helen."

"What?"

"Helen," she repeated.

"What about her?" Cutter asked, looking nonplus.

"Well think about it!" Jenny exclaimed, flinging her hands in front of her in frustration. "It's her M.O!"

"Stalking women?" Cutter asked, looking as though he thought it was the most ridiculous thing in the world. "So not only did I cause my wife to leave me, but I also turned her lesbian?"

"It's not about that! It's about freaking me out, which we both know she loves!"

"I just don't think that Helen would waste her time doing all this - "

"Oh come on Nick!" Jenny said, getting very aspirated. "She wants you back; we both know it! She's jealous of me now that I'm with you, and she's trying to punish me!"

"By sending you creepy messages and roses?" Cutter asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Why are you being so defensive of her?" Jenny demanded, feeling a twinge of insecurity that was very unlike her.

"ME?" Cutter spluttered. "You were the one defending Mark to the hilt! _'Oh no Mark is so sweet he would never do anything to hurt me'_," he added, imitating her voice badly.

"I didn't say that!"

"Well you may as well have!" Cutter yelled.

"You know what Cutter, when we get back to your place, don't talk to me!" she spat, feeling unjustified fury pulsate through her as she stormed off to pack.

"Fine by me!" Cutter shouted after her.

* * *

They stayed in a stony silence on the drive home, and as soon as they got back to Cutter's, Jenny went straight up to the spare room, dumped her stuff on the floor, and flopped onto the bed. She was so angry that she considered phoning Sarah and asking if she could crash with her for a few days. She was half way through dialing her number before she snapped her mobile shut as she thought better of it; Sarah didn't know about any of this stalker business, and Jenny was far too embarrassed about it to tell anyone else. And anyway, despite how infuriating he was, Cutter was the only person she felt completely safe with.

Later that night, Jenny went to sleep early - well at least tried too. She tossed and turned for hours, her mind still whirling about who it could possibly be that was doing this to her. That line that the police officer had said to her had chilled her: _'it's usually someone you know and even trust' _. . . could it possibly be someone that's she's friends with? Or colleagues with? Her thoughts were stopped when she heard the door open quietly. Cutter padded softly into the room and lay down next to her slowly. He put her arm around her and cuddled into her back, and instinctively, she stiffened; she was still too mad at him.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, hugging her tighter. "I know you're going through a lot . . . I should have been more understanding."

She didn't reply, but she did relax a tiny bit.

"Jenny?" he said tentively.

"Why is this happening to me?" she asked before she could stop herself.

Cutter paused.

"I don't know," he replied gently.

She rolled over to face him.

"I just keep thinking . . . have I done something? . . . have I lead someone on and not known it - ?"

"Stop," Cutter interrupted sharply, placing his hand on the side of her face. "This is _not_ your fault, do you hear me? Some delusional psychopath is to blame for all this, not you."

She sighed slightly and nodded, closing her eyes and enjoying the warmth of him next to her. Soon she was lost to sleep; however, she was always aware of Cutter's presence next to her, making her feel safe and calm, despite knowing that somewhere out there, someone was planning something to do her harm.

**Muhaha :) I'll update again as soon as it's written! X**


	5. Stay here

Chapter 5

Being at the ARC felt so surreal to Jenny; it was like it was all a dream. As soon as she stepped into that building, it felt like all the fear and danger was erased, and that she was in charge of her own life once more. She had sworn Cutter to secrecy about everything, which he was not happy about, but if everyone knew, their shock and sympathy would be unbearable. No one was any the wiser, which meant that she could pretend like all was well when she was at work. However, if Cutter had it his way, she'd be locked in a tower guarded by soldiers twenty-four hours a day.

One day when Cutter, Conner and Abby were out dealing with an anomaly, Jenny was summoned to Lester's office. He sat behind his desk as she entered, surveying her with the tips of his fingers pressed together as though in deep thought.

"You wanted to see me?" Jenny asked coolly, unable to shake off the feeling she always got when she was summoned to his office; like she was back in high school about to be yelled at by her Headmaster.

"Yes, take a seat," he said, gesturing at the chair opposite him.

She perched on it, adjusting her skirt as she did so, and wondering what on earth this was about. As far as she was aware, the team had been doing beautifully recently, and had certainly not done anything to warrant a telling off. There was silence for a few moments, which made her shuffle uncomfortably. Lester however seemed perfectly at ease as he lounged back in his chair, watching her as though he was expecting her to talk first.

Eventually, unable to stand the silence any longer, Jenny cleared her throat.

"Is something the matter James?" she asked, feeling a pang of irritation.

"Why don't you tell me?" he replied cryptically.

"I don't know what you mean?" she answered slowly.

Sighing, he lifted up a file from his desk and flopped it back on the table in front of her. Bemused, she opened it and flicked through a few of the pages.

It was a copy of the police statement she had given a few days previously.

"Oh," was all she could think to say as her heart sank.

"Oh indeed," he nodded, sitting forward slightly. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because it's nothing to do with you," she snapped, more bluntly than she intended. He raised an eyebrow at her before she corrected herself. "I mean it's not affecting my work, so I didn't see the point in bringing it up."

"So it didn't strike you that I might have been able help?"

"By doing what?" Jenny asked in puzzlement.

"By providing you with a military escort?" he suggested.

Jenny smiled, and looked downwards.

"That's very nice of you, but it's not necessary."

"I assume Cutter knows?" he asked, his tone implying a hint of knowing.

Jenny and Cutter had never officially told Lester about their relationship, and he had always feigned deafness when anyone made any comments referring to it. He had never really seemed thrilled at the idea of them as a couple; probably because he wondered if it would ultimately result in the two of them being unable to do their job properly.

"Yes, I'm staying with him," Jenny answered quietly. "Temporarily," she added, feeling the need to justify herself.

"Good," Lester nodded, taking Jenny by surprise. "As long as you're safe. You have no idea how much paperwork I would have to fill in if one of my staff was strafed on my watch."

Jenny grimaced. She knew his little sarcastic blunt comments were Lester's way of being friendly and an attempt to put her at ease, but the matter was a little to serous for her to find his joke amusing.

* * *

"What was all that about?" Sarah demanded, looking up from her work as Jenny entered the room. She was obviously referring to her meeting with Lester that she could see through the glass walls.

"Nothing," Jenny lied immediately, taking a seat opposite her.

Sarah raised an eyebrow at her.

"It's nothing," Jenny repeated insistently.

Sarah nodded but looked unconvinced, and returned her gaze to her work.

"Oh by the way, you've got a package there," Sarah added as an afterthought, pointing over to the table next to them with her pen.

Jenny looked over, distracted, and saw a long-ish white parcel sitting there.

"Who's it from?" Jenny asked, as she got up.

"I don't know, one of Becker's soldiers brought it in before," Sarah explained. "Said it had been left at the front desk for you. He didn't look to happy about it though - told me to remind you he's not a post man and that this is a secret facility and not your personal warehouse."

Jenny laughed slightly, and opened the lid of the box by undoing two clamps at the side of it. A vile smell filled the room immediately, making the two of them gag and clap their hands over their mouth and nose. Inside the parcel was a bunch of rotted red roses with horrid maggots crawling all over it.

"Oh my God," Jenny breathed, backing away from the box with her heart hammering.

Sarah took one look inside, and ran to the doorway shouting for Becker. He came rushing in from the main room with two of his men and gently pushed Jenny out of the way with his hands on her arms. He looked in the box with his nose wrinkled, and slowly put his hand in and pulled out a white card. He flicked a couple of maggots of it, looking disgusted, and read it aloud.

"'My darling Jenny, it is with a heavy heart that I prepare for our union in the next world'." He looked up at Jenny, confusion written all over his tanned face. "Do you know who sent this?"

"No," she answered quietly, breathing fast to desperately stop the tears falling from her eyes.

"Who brought it in?" he said urgently, holding the card up.

"That would be me," one of his soldiers answered. "A man left it at the front gate for her."

"And you took it?" Becker demanded, looking at him in disbelief. "Are you out of your mind Brookes?"

"I didn't see the harm - " the soldier stuttered.

"What did he look like?" Becker interrupted forcefully.

"He was tall," Brookes began, his forehead wrinkled in thought. "About six foot two. And he had blonde curly hair . . . he was quite stocky . . . and that's all I noticed if I'm honest . . ."

"How long ago?"

"About twenty minutes."

Without a word, Becker made towards the door, only turning when he reached it.

"Stay here," he ordered to Jenny and Sarah, before taking off again, his soldiers trailing behind him.

Sarah was looking at Jenny with mingled sympathy and shock.

"What's going on?" she asked gently as she approached Jenny.

"I . . . he . . ." Jenny tried to explain, but her voice cracked, and she was forced to put her hand to her mouth to stop herself sobbing; tears fell hard and fast from her eyes.

Sarah put her arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug. She still looking bewildered, and Jenny knew why; Sarah had never seen her lose control like this.

* * *

After Jenny had calmed down, she begrudgingly explained everything to Sarah, who listened with her mouth open.

"And you have no idea who it is?" Sarah asked in disbelief after she had finished.

Jenny shook her head.

"Not a clue. But now apparently it's some tall blonde haired guy - " Jenny began, but stopped as she truly thought about the description the soldier had given: Tall, stocky, blonde curly hair . . .

Mark.

He was the only person she could think of that fitted this description to the letter.

"Jenny?" Sarah probed, apparently curious why she had stopped speaking and looked like she'd seen a ghost.

"I have to go," Jenny said blankly, standing up and walking towards the door.

"What?" Sarah exclaimed, looking at her as if she was crazy. "But you can't! Becker said to stay here! It's not safe - "

"Just . . . cover for me okay?" Jenny said, walking off down the corridor before Sarah could protest further.

* * *

**Rapidly coming to a conclusion! Just to re-iterate, I got the idea for this fic from a One Tree Hill episode, so no flames please if you notice a correlation between the two storylines! X**


	6. Confusion

Chapter 6

Jenny was buzzing on the intercom to Mark's apartment, unsure as to whether she was being incredibly stupid or not. But she had no evidence to go to the police with; and she couldn't rest without knowing.

"Yes?" his voice issued out of the intercom.

"Mark, it's Jenny. Can I come up?"

He seemed to hesitate for a moment.

"Sure," he said eventually, buzzing her in.

He lived on the fifth floor, and so she was slightly out of breath when she reached his door, having not wanted to get the lift; the though of being in a confined space right now was not appealing to her in the slightest. She knocked, her heart thumping wildly. Mark answered immediately, looking as handsome as ever. He was wearing a confused expression as he surveyed her with slightly narrow eyes.

"Come in," he said, standing aside to let her pass, closing the door behind them.

All of a sudden, Jenny realised that this was a very bad idea. She tried to steady her breath, but the panic that had erupted in her stomach made her hand shake.

"You're looking well," Mark continued, looking her up and down; his eyes lingering at her legs as he did so.

"Thanks, so are you," she said, finally finding her voice.

She must have been giving him a very strange look indeed, as he stared back at her with his eyebrow raised.

"Something wrong?" he asked, as he moved towards the kitchen.

"No," Jenny replied quickly, following him and standing awkwardly in the doorway.

"Are you sure?" he persisted, getting two glasses out of the cupboard and placing them on the counter. "You look a little . . . nervous," he added with a smile.

She looked up at him suspiciously; did he know why she was on edge?

"Why would I be nervous?" she asked him, watching as he poured out some wine that she hadn't asked for, making sure he didn't make a movement without her seeing.

"You tell me?" he smirked, handing her a glass; his fingers brushing against hers as he did so.

She didn't reply, but instead took a sip of her wine.

"The place looks nice," she said, thinking hard about how to get him talking. "I haven't been here since you bought it to rent out, remember?"

"As I remember, you picked the place - I was just the guy with the cheque book," he answered.

"You asked for my advice on investments, and I gave it to you," she defended herself, slightly stung by his insinuation.

"I'm teasing," he said, taking a seat on a stool opposite her. She mimicked him and sat down herself, crossing her legs.

"So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?" he asked, taking a sip of his drink. "I thought I lost that a long time ago?"

She rolled her eyes; he was just like she remembered him - a smarmy little . . .

"I just wanted a catch up," she lied, not knowing how on earth she was going to get anything out of him.

He looked at her for a moment, his expression unreadable.

"You have returned none of my calls in the last few months and from what I hear, you're seeing someone else," he pointed out.

"How did you know I was seeing someone?" Jenny asked, perplexed. _But then again, of course he would know . . . after all, he was impersonating Cutter on msn . . ._

"Your Mother told me," he replied.

"You still speak with my mum?"

"I see her at some functions," Mark explained.

"Of course," Jenny nodded, thanking God she got away from that lifestyle when she did - as she remembered, she wasn't a very nice person back then.

"So you are seeing someone then?" Mark probed.

"No," Jenny said untruthfully. "We, er, we split up."

"That's a shame," he smiled, taking another large gulp of his wine. "What happened, did he realize how high maintenance you are?"

Jenny glared at him over her glass, but didn't dignify his question with a response.

"You look good Jen," he added out-of-the-blue, sitting back and surveying her. "You look _really_ good."

"Thanks," she said, blushing slightly.

"I've been thinking about you a lot recently," he continued, necking back the rest of his drink in one gulp. "In fact, I haven't been able to stop thinking about you."

"Is that so?" Jenny said. _Is that why you decided to start stalking me?_ she thought to herself.

"Yes," he nodded, filling his glass up again, and topping her one up - her eyes followed every slight movement he made.

"I've been thinking about you too," she lied. This was how she was going to get him.

At her words, his head snapped up, his expression delighted.

"Really?" he exclaimed.

"Yes," she continued as she stood up, moving to his side of the counter, swaying her hips as she went. "I think we might have made a massive mistake when we gave up so soon."

"I do too," he mumbled, his eyes transfixed on her waist.

"And," she breathed, placing her hands on his chest and looking down at him, "I think we should give it one more test drive," she fingered the collar of his shirt. "Even if it is for old times sake."

"Oh I was hoping you'd say that," he said, his voice full of longing as he ran his hands down her side; his touch making her feel physically sick. "But what's brought this on? I thought you hated me?"

"Things change," she whispered in his ear, feeling him tremble underneath her. "Maybe it's just seeing you like this after so long - "

He made her jump slightly as he stood up, and pulled her into a kiss. She felt disgusted in herself as she thought of Cutter, and how she was betraying him; but she needed to know -

She broke away from him as quickly as she could get away with.

"Or maybe it's because of the roses you sent me," she continued, feeling the anticipation build up inside her.

"I - what roses?" he asked, pulling away slightly.

"The roses you've been sending me," she carried on, her arms wrapped around his neck. "But you needn't had bothered; all you had to do is ask . . ."

She lent forward and bit his lower lip, knowing that it sent him wild.

"Well if we're going to do this, I might as well be honest - " he said eventually, his hands running down her back.

She held her breath . . .

"I didn't send you any roses," he continued. "I've been away for a month on business. I only just got back yesterday."

Jenny's head snapped up, and she looked at him hard . . . was he lying? Confusion flickered across his face.

"But now we're back on I can get you all the roses you want," he corrected himself quickly, clearly thinking that she was upset that it hadn't been him. "You can have a million roses if you want - "

Jenny backed away from him immediately.

"It's not you," she said numbly.

It couldn't be him if he hadn't been in the country all month.

Without a word, she walked away.

"Jen! Were are you going?" he yelled after her. "What about us?"

"There is no us!" she shouted back, closing the door behind her.

* * *

More confused than ever, Jenny pulled up outside her house in her car . . . she had been so sure it was Mark . . .

She knew she should go back to the ARC as she was sure Sarah would be worried about her by now, but she wanted to get a shower to wash the stink of Mark off her before she saw Cutter; how on earth was she going to look him in the eye after what she had just been up to? True, Mark made her skin crawl, but she had kissed him, even if it was a means to an end. She doubted very much that Cutter would accept her explanation. God, he was going to go nuts.

Jenny opened her front door and stepped inside the hall, feeling the same prickling feeling she had whenever she was alone in this place now. Maybe she should have gone to Cutter's instead . . .

All of a sudden, someone grabbed her from behind, frightening the life out of her. She shrieked and struggled against them wildly, until she felt a sharp prick in her neck. Out of nowhere, she felt unbelievably spaced out. The will to fight left her . . . unknown arms were holding her up . . . her vision was clouding and her brain seemed to be slowing. Someone was muttering something into her ear softly, but she couldn't discern the words as she fought to stay conscious; she could feel hot, tickley breath on her neck as she seemed to be fall deeper and deeper into blackness_._


	7. Doorbell

**This story is quite violent from here-on in so please don't read if you don't like that sort of thing! You have been warned! **

* * *

Chapter 7

When Jenny came to, she could feel that she was sitting upright in one of her kitchen chairs. For a moment, she couldn't understand what was holding her up; that is until she became aware that her hands were bound tightly behind her, and her bare legs were forced together by another knot of rope around her ankles. Dazed, she looked up and around, unable to understand how she had gotten there. With a sickening jolt that brought her back to reality, she noticed that every square inch of her yellow kitchen walls were plastered with photographs.

Photographs of her.

There were hundreds; some of her walking casually down the road . . . some of her in her car . . . some of her with Cutter in her house that had been taken through the window . . . even one with her pulling her top on in her bedroom. But what - what?

She tried to speak, but was shocked that her mouth was bound shut by what appeared to be a large piece of tape. Panic such as she had never felt in her life engulfed her completely as she struggled against the ropes that bound her. She was too weak and groggy however, and failed to make them budge at all.

"Ahh you're awake," a man's voice spoke from the doorway_._

She looked up, her eyes widened withshock. He was quite a large man, not in a fat way, but in the muscular sense. He had short brown hair, pale sallow skin, and cold grey eyes that bored into her as he watched her.

She recognized him.

His name was Brookes; well his last name was anyway - she didn't know his first name. He worked at the ARC . . . he was one of Becker's soldiers.

Jenny tried to speak again, but was incapable of doing so, either because of the tape or down-right terror. He approached her casually, looking amused, and lent down so that his face was level with hers, and merely inches away.

"I'm sorry about the drugs," he continued softly, placing his hands either side of her face, to which she tried to jerk away from. "I needed to get you to listen to me."

Jenny could feel her heart pumping erratically against her ribs; this was it . . . she was trapped.

"I'm going to take the tape off now," he informed her. "Can I trust you to be quiet?"

Jenny didn't respond, but gave him the dirtiest look she could with her eyes, her breathing coming hard and fast. He must have took that as a 'yes' as in one quick movement, he ripped it off her, causing her to yelp with the sharp pain.

"Sorry," he said again, flicking the tape to the floor. "I don't want to hurt you - "

The rest of his words were drowned out as Jenny started to scream so loud that her throat felt as though it was about to rip.

"HELP!" she screeched at the top of her lungs over and over again. "HELP!"

He raised his hand and smacked her across her cheek bone with such a force that her head flew to the side. Pain erupted as she felt her cheek split open and warm blood trickle down her face. He was suddenly behind her, leaning his face against the side of hers and pulling her hair backwards to expose her neck. She felt something cold and sharp being pressed against her throat.

A knife.

"Are you going to be quiet?" he breathed into her ear, making her shudder.

When she didn't reply, he pulled her hair back more and pushed the knife closer to her skin. She felt a stinging sensation on her throat as the knife cut into her slightly, drawing blood.

"_Are you going to be quiet -?"_ he snarled forcefully.

"Yes," Jenny cried quickly, her eyes watering from the pain.

He took the blade away and threw her hair from him so that her head was flung forwards. She raised her eyes to look at him again.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked in a mouse voice.

"I am very disappointed in you Jenny," he began wistfully. "You broke my heart when you dropped me for Cutter. How could you hurt me like that?"

Jenny blinked. This man was completely mental.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is seeing you saunter past me every day?" he continued, rounding her chair; she could feel him sniffing her hair, and a sick swooping feeling took hold of her and tears fell down her cheeks. "Wearing that perfume . . . making me yearn . . . looking that good for another man," he said through gritted teeth as he burrowed his head further into her hair.

He straightened up, making her jump violently.

"But that's okay," he continued, walking back round to face her; his eyes manic. "I'm not mad at you . . . you're just confused."

"Look, just let me go - " Jenny begged, her voice cracking as she spoke.

"But don't you see?" he exclaimed quickly, falling to his knees at her legs; the knife in his hand glinting in the light. "I'm doing this for you."

She looked down at him in numb disbelief.

"You're crazy," she whispered before she could stop herself.

His deranged face contorted into anger at her words, and in a flash, he had struck her across the face again; causing her lip to split open.

"I'm sorry," he said immediately as she straightened up again, her jaw in agony. "Why do you make me do this?" he growled in frustration as he lowered his face onto her thighs, kissing her skin.

At his touch, she sobbed harder and looked away, unable to believe that it was happening to her.

"I don't want to hurt you," he insisted softly, his hand creeping up her thigh, and finding the edge of her skirt.

"Please don't," she cried, screwing up her eyes - any moment she'll wake up and this would all be a terrible nightmare . . .

His cold touch wondered further up under her skirt -

Then the doorbell rang.

Before she could even think about screaming for help, he had darted behind her and clamped his palm across her mouth so tight that she struggled to breathe.

* * *

Sarah sighed impatiently on Jenny's doorstep, ringing the bell for the third time; where was she? It wasn't like her to just not come back to work, and as Cutter was busy at an anomaly site, Sarah had thought she had better go and check that everything was alright. She knew that Jenny was in, as her car was parked outside the house. Why wasn't she answering? As a long shot, Sarah tried the door to see if it was unlocked; however, she was not expecting it to be. After all, she supposed Jenny would have been extra careful since this whole stalker business had began. To her complete surprise however, the door creaked open. Bemused, Sarah stepped inside.

"Hello?" she said softly, not wanting to startle Jenny.

No answer.

"Jenny? It's Sarah," she shouted louder, shutting the front door behind her as she stepped deeper into the hall. "I know you're in!"

She thought she heard a noise in the kitchen, and unwilling to let Jenny hide away in fear, she strode over to it with the full intention of chiding the woman for not returning to work. But the scene that greeted her as she rounded the kitchen door made her jaw drop to the floor.

Jenny was tied to a chair in the middle of the room; bound by her hands and ankles. Her hair was tousled and tangled, and her face was tear-stained and bloodied as though she had sustained several blows. A piece of tape covered her mouth. As soon as their gazes met, Jenny struggled against the rope, shouting something that was incoherent due to her mouth restraint.

"Oh my God!" Sarah exclaimed, hurrying forward to untie her.

Jenny's eyes widened as she looked behind Sarah's shoulder, screaming something that was too muffled to make out. Then, Sarah felt a blinding pain on the back of her head, and as she sunk into darkness, she could hear Jenny sobbing uncontrollably.


	8. Faking it

Chapter 8

Brookes had disappeared off somewhere, probably to secure the rest of the house so that no-one else could get in. Or out. However, Jenny didn't really care where he was at the moment; all she cared about was that Sarah still hadn't regained consciousness. The psychopath had tied her up in a chair next to her; her dark hair fell forwards as her head hung limp - a trail of blood was trickling down her neck from her head injury. Desperate to rouse her, Jenny used her shoulder to try and brush off the tape on her mouth; luckily it had lost some of it's stickiness due to being re-used, and soon it was fluttering to the floor.

"Sarah?" Jenny called urgently. "Wake up! SARAH!"

She heard her groan slightly.

"Sarah!"

Slowly, she lifted her head; her eyes unfocused as she looked around.

"What happened?" she asked faintly.

"It's one of Becker's soldiers!" Jenny informed her, her voice cracking. "He's the stalker!"

Sarah still looked groggy and confused as her eyes scanned the room, resting on the photographs that papered the walls.

"I . . . I don't - " she began, but Jenny cut her off; there wasn't much time.

"Did you tell anyone you were coming?" she asked urgently. "Nick? Becker?"

"No," Sarah replied, wincing slightly in pain.

Jenny closed her eyes and sighed in frustration. No one was going to come to their rescue this time.

"Well it's not like I expected to be knocked out and tied up by one of our own soldiers when came round!" Sarah insisted, sounding stung by Jenny's disappointment. "Can I just say you're a very high maintenance friend to have!"

"You should have _told_ somebody!"

"You shouldn't have run off by yourself!" Sarah argued, struggling with her hand restraints. "I told you not to!"

"Oh great, so this is my fault!" Jenny gasped.

"Well he's your stalker, not mine!"

"Oh yeah, I forgot that every little girl wants a stalker when they grow up," Jenny muttered sarcastically.

"It's nice of you to join the party Sarah," a cold voice spoke from the door, sending a bolt of fear through Jenny's body.

They both fell silent and looked up at him, their breathing quickening.

"Although," he continued, kneeling down in front of Sarah and grabbing her chin roughly. "Didn't anyone tell you it's bad manners to turn up to a party uninvited."

_Just stay quiet Sarah, _Jenny thought wildly, willing the woman to read her thoughts. _Don't wind him up . . . just stay quiet . . ._

"Untie me you freak!" Sarah spat, jerking her head away from his touch.

Jenny screwed her eyes up,_ Sarah!_

Brookes's eyes narrowed in cool amusement.

"Well you have a filthy mouth on you," he stated, grabbing her face tighter.

"Brookes - " Jenny began, desperate to divert his attention away from Sarah.

"My name is Tim," he snarled, causing Sarah to shriek in shock as he shook her head.

"Tim," Jenny corrected herself immediately, using the softest voice she could muster. "Look at me - "

He turned to her, but he still held Sarah tight.

"Why don't you just let her go?" she continued gently. "It's me you really want, not her. And she's just in the way here. She's interrupting us."

Both Brookes and Sarah were looking at her in shock, but she kept her face impassive and stared back.

"I . . . I can't . . ." Brookes began quietly, looking as though he was seriously considering it. "She'll go and tell people."

"She won't," Jenny answered quickly, trying so hard to keep her voice steady. "Will you?" she added to Sarah in a tone that said 'do NOT argue.'

Sarah shook her head insistently.

Brookes stood up and paced, looking torn between his desire to have Jenny alone, and his common sense that the first thing Sarah would do when she got out is phone the police. But just when he looked like he was about to agree -

_Ring ring . . . ring ring . . . ring ring . . ._

Jenny's mobile buzzed in her bag that was on the floor. Brookes fished it out and looked at the name lighting up on the screen.

"CUTTER!" he yelled, flinging the phone against the wall so violently that is smashed, causing both Jenny and Sarah to jump out of their skins. "Why is he calling you?"

"Why don't we just forget about Sarah and Cutter?" Jenny suggested desperately. "You and I could just go upstairs now and forget she's here."

Brookes paused, staring down at her with wide eyes that looked manic. If she could just get him to untie her . . .

"You're - you're lying," he stammered, running his hand through his hair.

"I'm not baby," Jenny answered, looking up at him with her most seductive expression. She had always had the knack of being able to wrap men around her little finger when she wanted. "I just want it to be me and you . . . no one else."

After pausing for a long while, he pulled out the knife that he'd been keeping in his belt. Sarah let out a small gasp beside her, but Jenny kept her fear under control . . . she nearly had him . . .

He rounded her chair, and she felt him hacking at the rope around her hands. She winced slightly; her wrist were cut and stinging. She glanced over at Sarah who was giving her a look of shocked confusion; Jenny tried to convey with her eyes that it was part of a plan . . . well sort-of . . . she didn't really know what she was going to do after he untied her. When he'd freed her hands, he undid the roped around her ankles and threw the knife to the floor.

"And you're not thinking about Cutter?" Brookes asked, grinning lopsidedly as he helped her to her feet; her legs felt like lead and his touch sent shivers down her spine, but she kept a smile plastered to her face.

"Why would I be thinking about Cutter when I've got you here?" Jenny whispered, tugging at the collar of his shirt.

He pulled her to the door, looking incredibly eager to get her upstairs.

"Hang on a minute," she said, an idea striking her.

She turned and picked up the piece of tape from the floor. She bent down and pressed it onto Sarah's mouth, giving her an apologetic look as she did so.

"So she can't interrupt us again," Jenny said to Brookes.

She turned to see him smiling in agreement, before walking off into the hall. As soon as he was out of sight, Jenny grabbed the knife and put it in Sarah's hands that were tied behind her back.

"Get yourself out and go and get help," Jenny breathed to her, before following Brookes back into the hall, her heart bursting it's banks with panic.

What now?

* * *

As soon as she set foot into the hall, Brookes grabbed her and pulled her into a kiss. Jenny kissed him back, trying desperately not to gag. He pushed her violently against the staircase and held her wrists in place -

As quick as a flash, Jenny jammed her knee into his crotch as hard as possible. He doubled over cursing, distracted for a moment, which Jenny took advantage of - looking around wildly, she spotted her bookcase next to them . . . she pulled it down so that it tumbled on top of him, hiding him from view. For a second, Jenny froze in shock over what she'd just done before her wits returned to her. She made to run towards the front door, but a hand grabbed her ankle and she fell flat on her face; she turned and kicked herself free, and scampered up to her feet again. She made to wrench the door open but it wouldn't budge . . . he had locked it and took the key.

From behind her, she heard him lifting the bookcase off himself. In her panic, she sprinted up the stairs, not thinking until it was too late that she was trapping herself. She ran into her room and grabbed the house phone.

It was dead.

He had cut the phone line.

Panicking, she heard his footsteps coming up the stairs.

"That wasn't very nice Jenny!" he shouted.


	9. The counter attack

Chapter 9

Jenny launched forward and locked the door, but she knew it wouldn't hold him for long; it was made of shoddy wood that would be easy to break down. Her brain was whirling with possible suggestions to get both Sarah and herself out alive, but none of them seemed plausible . . . if only she could contact someone . . . suddenly, she realised that she kept her walky-talky device in here; even though it was much more powerful than the standard, it still would only work over relatively short distances. But it was worth a try . . .

As she rooted frantically in her work bag next to her bed, she jumped violently as Brookes started banging on the door.

"Open the door Jenny!" he demanded, sounding furious.

She pulled out the radio, and flipped the switch down so that she could hear whoever was on the other side and visa-versa.

"This is Jenny Lewis," she spoke as quietly as she could get away with. "I need help, is anyone there?"

Only static emanated from the machine. It had been a long shot after all.

The door wobbled alarmingly after Brookes's latest blow; it wasn't going to hold out much longer. Panicking, Jenny flung herself into a crouching position with her back against the side of her chester draws just as the door exploded open with a deafening crash.

"We're not playing hide-and-seek, Jenny," said Brookes's soft, cold voice, drawing neared to where she crouched. "You can't hide from me for long. Maybe I should go down and finish Sarah off first then? When I've done that, I'm sure you'll be better behaved . . ."

Jenny closed her eyes, and knew what she had to do. She couldn't let anything happen to Sarah . . . and she wasn't going to die crouched down like a scared child. If this is how it was all going to end, she was going to fight him until the last ounce of strength left her body. Never let it be said that Jenny Lewis couldn't take care of herself when she needed to.

Before he could discover her behind the draws, she stood up. This seemed to surprise Brookes slightly, as he surveyed her for a few moments as she walked out from her corner, ready for the blow to hit her.

Then, he dived towards her, pushing her up against the wall roughly; the radio fell out of her hand and spun across the floor and out of sight, the static sound still vaguely audible. She pushed back, determined not to make this easy for him; she clawed at his arms and face with her sharp, manicured nails making him roar in pain and loosen his grip on her slightly. She punched him as hard as she could, causing him to stagger backwards several feet. Adrenaline pumped through her veins as she made to attack him again, but he straightened up and head butted her. She fell backwards, screaming in agony and clutching her forehead, collapsing on the floor with dizziness. In a flash, he was on top of her, ripping her skirt, and settling between her legs, his hands holding her wrists down.

"Get off me!" she screeched, as she tried with all her might to push him off, but he was too strong . . . he was a soldier after all.

"Who is that?" a voice emanated out of the radio that was next to her head.

_Conner_.

Before she could reply, Brookes put his hands around her throat and started to choke her; she struggled for breath desperatly.

"This . . . Jenny Lewis . . . help me . . ." was all she could splutter, his hands grasping tighter and tighter around her, crushing her windpipe.

"Jenny? Where are you?" Conner's voice demanded, sounding panicked.

Jenny tried to respond, but she had no breath left in her to form any words. Her vision was swimming . . . all she could make out were his cold grey eyes crinkled in satisfaction as he watched her lose consciousness.

Then, out of nowhere, he grunted in pain and rolled off her. Sarah was standing behind him, holding one of Mark's cricket bats that had been stored in the downstairs cupboard. Jenny scampered to her feet, coughing and gasping for breath, clutching her neck. Brookes launched at Sarah, both of them fighting for the bat in her hands; with a yell, he pushed her hard so that she was flung across the room and hit the opposite wall. While his back was turned Jenny jumped on him wildly, but he threw her off him easily and she landed in a heap on the bed.

"Sarah, get out of here!" she yelled, struggling upwards.

She could hear Conner's (or it could have been anyone's) voice shouting out of the walky-talky, but she didn't have time for that . . . Brookes and Sarah where fighting again; Sarah aimed a kick at his crotch, and grappled with him so that they both fell out into the hallway. Jenny followed; Sarah was now on the floor, and Brookes was chocking her as he had just done with Jenny.

"Get off her!" Jenny screamed, trying to pull him off with her arms around his neck so that she had him in a sort-of head lock. "GET OFF!"

He was yelling, and trying to push Jenny off him, but she only tightened her grip. In the end, he was forced to let go of Sarah's throat, and both he and Jenny fell backwards onto the floor. From beside her, she felt him get up. She turned to see him walking away down the hall, but Sarah grabbed his ankle so that he stumbled - they couldn't let him go and get more weapons. Jenny scrambled to her feet again and launched at him, pushing against the wall. In a second, Sarah was beside her, and they both went for him, punching and kicking him incessantly; he seemed overwhelmed by their sudden attack, so much so that he couldn't fight back efficiently - Jenny was trying to keep him pinned to the wall, and his hand reached out and again grabbed Sarah by the neck; she responded by squeezing his own throat as hard as she could, her teeth bared into a snarl as she did so. It was not until they all staggered to the side and Jenny felt the floor leave her feet did she abandon the attempt to punch every inch of him she could reach.

All she remembered was seeing flashes of the banister as they all tumbled down the stairs in a mass of limps. There was a blinding pain that felt as though her head had split open.

And then nothingness.

* * *

**This story turned out much more darker than I had intended, but ah well, I shall ride the wave!**

**Review if you can :D x**


	10. After the tumble

Chapter 10

"I think we can put that one in the victory pile," Conner said with a smile on his face as Cutter drove them both back to the ARC. "No one was killed after all - "

"Yeah, now all we have to do is explain to Lester how we managed to total three government cars in the process," Cutter replied, with a reluctant smile as he pictured Lester's rant from the previous day -

'_It may interest you to know Cutter that more money has been spent cleaning up after your messes that it cost to build the ARC in the first place! The next equipment you destroy is coming out of your wages!'_

"Well then we'll tell him the next time a T-rex in running around, he can go and be the bate - " Conner began, but he stopped talking abruptly. "Can you hear that?" he added, looking at Cutter in puzzlement.

Cutter strained his ears; and then he heard it . . . it was like someone was screaming quietly in the back of the car. Looking confused, Conner lent over and rummaged around the junk in the back seat, finally pulling out the radio receiver they usually used to keep in touch at anomaly sites. He turned up the volume.

A high pitched scream filled the car, making them both start. The hairs on the back of Cutter's neck stood on end as they listened. The signal went slightly for a moment, but they faintly heard a woman shout 'get off me.'

"Who is this?" Conner asked through the radio.

As the signal returned they heard a lot of shuffling and heavy breathing, someone seemed to be gasping.

"This . . . Jenny Lewis . . . help me," the voice said.

Cutter nearly crashed the car in shock. Conner stared back at him, wide eyes, holding the radio out in front of him as though he was scared of it.

"Jenny?" Conner shouted to the receiver. "Where are you?"

She didn't reply, but suddenly, they heard a man yelling as though in pain; a lot of scrapping and banging and screaming. They also heard a voice - Jenny's voice, he was sure of it - screeching "Sarah, get out of here!"

Cutter stopped the car with a jolt and grabbed the radio off Conner.

"Jenny, what's going on?" he shouted as loud and clear as possible. "Where are you?"

Again, she didn't reply, and only shouts and screams could be heard as though from a great distance away. Without a word to Conner, Cutter started the car again, and made a quick (and rather dangerous) you turn.

"Where are we going?" demanded Conner, looking terrified.

"To Jenny's house," Cutter answered. "It's not far - "

"But they could be anywhere!" Conner insisted sensibly.

"It's worth a try!" Cutter yelled, feeling fear build up inside him - from the sound of those screams, Jenny was in serious danger, and by what they had heard, so was Sarah.

* * *

Jenny's senses were returning slowly; the first thing she could feel was pain coming from both her head and her ribs - it was so intense that she almost passed out again. Fighting to stay conscious, she heaved her upper body onto her arms and looked around. She was lying at the bottom of the stairs next to Brookes, who was not moving; his neck was at a very weird angle and a trickle of blood was running down his face from a wound on his head. Sarah was sprawled at the other side of the hall, and seemed to be unconscious. Jenny tried to get to her feet, but the blinding pain in her side wouldn't allow it; therefore, she had to practically crawl over Brookes to get to Sarah to try and rouse her.

"Sarah?" she croaked, shaking her roughly. When she didn't wake up, Jenny slapped her face. "Sarah, come on!"

Her eyes flickered open slowly, but when her eyes focused on Jenny, she sat up alarmingly fast, wincing.

"Where is he?" she demanded.

Jenny turned towards the stairs, and Sarah followed her gaze; they both stared at him for a few moments.

"Is he . . . is he dead?" Sarah gulped.

"I don't know," Jenny breathed back, torn between hoping he was, and not wanting to be responsible for someone death.

"Well, check his pulse!" Sarah urged.

Jenny looked back around at her in disbelief.

"Are you kidding?"

Sarah raised an eyebrow at her to show that she was clearly not joking.

"I can barely move!" Jenny insisted truthfully.

"Oh fine, I'll do it!" Sarah sighed, looking as though it was the last thing she wanted to do in the world.

She lent over and pressing two fingers up against his neck. She paused for a few moments, before turning to Jenny and shaking her head.

"Nothing," she whispered, looking horrified and relieved at the same time.

Then, out of nowhere, Brookes's hand grabbed Sarah's wrist, causing both women to scream in shock. They scampered away from him; Jenny getting to her feet, ignoring the agonizing pain in her ribs. Brookes was coming around quickly. Wildly, Jenny looked around for something - anything - to stop him. Her eyes fell on her gigantic mirror hanging on the wall.

"Sarah, help me!" Jenny shouted, grabbing one end of the mirror.

Together, they pulled the mirror down and smashed it on top of Brookes, who was just about to get to his feet. In a split second, he was sprawled on his stomach, moving no more.

Breathing hard, Jenny sunk into a sitting position by sliding down the wall, unable to keep herself on her feet now the adrenaline rush had left her. Sarah leaned over her, looking worried, but Jenny waved away her concern.

"Just get the door open and go and get help," Jenny ordered, the pain in her ribs making it difficult for her to think clearly.

Before Sarah reached the door, however, there was a loud incessant banging on it, making both women start.

"Jenny? Sarah? Are you in there?" Cutter's voice traveled through the door.

* * *

Cutter and Conner both banged on Jenny's door; Cutter seemed so desperate to find out that what they had heard on the radio was not right.

"JENNY!" he bellowed, hammering against the wood.

"Nick, we can't get the door open!" Jenny's voice shouted back, sounding muffled. "He's took the key!"

Neither Connor nor Cutter bothered to ask who 'he' was, but Cutter began to ram the door with his shoulder to break it down; when Conner twigged onto what he was trying to do, he mirrored him, and with the combined weight, they managed to force it open. The sight that greeted them was so horrific that Conner gasped and clasped his hands to his mouth.

Jenny was sitting on the glass-covered floor leaning against the wall; her blouse was so torn that it barely covered her up, and her skirt was ripped right up her thigh. Her hair was a mess, and her face, arms and legs were covered in blood, whether her own or someone else's, it was impossible to tell. Sarah was standing over her, also looking bruised and bloodied, but seemed in a much better state than Jenny was. Cutter hurried in to Jenny, who winced in pain as he pulled her into a hug, although she clutched him close none-the-less. After the shock had dissipated, Conner approached Sarah.

"What happened?" he asked in an involuntary high voice as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"He . . . he . . ." Sarah began, looking close to tears as she pointed at something. "He attacked us."

Conner followed her finger with his gaze and saw who she was referring to; lying at the bottom on the stairs, unconscious, was a soldier he recognized from the ARC.

"I don't understand," Conner said slowly, looking round at Cutter.

He and Jenny were still embracing, foreheads touching; the latter breathing hard and looking incapable of speech anyway. He heard Cutter whispering something to her gently, before getting up.

"Conner, phone an ambulance and the police," he said in a forced-calm voice. "Now."

* * *

**Side Note - I decided that most of my stories involve Cutter coming to Jenny's rescue (the whole knight in shining armor thing), but in my opinion, Jenny and Sarah would be able to handle** **themselves in tight situations without the help of men. So that's why I've written that Cutter came in afterwards :p x**


	11. The aftermath

Chapter 11

Two fractured ribs, a concussion and twenty stitches.

That was what Jenny was told she had anyway. But by the time she had been fixed up in the hospital, she was so high on the Morphine they had given her, she could barely remember her own name, let alone her many ailments. The police had come to the hospital with Sarah and Jenny to interview them, but the doctors had shooed them away, claiming that the girls were too injured to relive everything at that time. Reluctantly, the police officers had told them they would come and get their statements the following day.

Jenny couldn't take anything in; one moment, she was in the hospital, and the next she was being half-carried by Cutter into his house. She could feel nothing but blissful numbness as she was being lowered onto a soft bed; someone was undressing her gently and pulling bedcovers over her and soon she was lost to a dream-free slumber.

* * *

Jenny woke suddenly as a sharp pain shot through her chest; her head was pounding, and the places that had been stitched were stinging. She was in Cutter's bed wearing one of his shirts, although she had no memory of changing into it. And she was completely alone. Confused, she looked around, and spotted Cutter fast asleep in a chair in the corner; he obviously hadn't wanted to share a bed with her incase he hurt her during the night. As quietly as possible, but wincing heavily in pain, she got out of bed and tiptoed into the bathroom, taking her bag with her to fish out the painkillers she had been given. She took two and slurped some water out of the tap, unable to summon up the strength to go to the kitchen for a proper drink.

She stared at herself in the mirror for a moment with her hands on the side of the sink; God she looked a mess! Her lip was swollen, and her cheekbone was stitched heavily, as was her forehead. She also had a black eye, which looked as though all the make up in the world wouldn't cover it up. She closed her eyes, and as soon as she did, the image of Brookes flashed up in front of her. Unable to contain herself, she broke down, leaning over the sink and sobbing as quietly as she could so that Cutter wouldn't hear her.

_Why had this happened to her? _

"You alright?" Cutter's soft voice roused her from her thoughts.

She straightened up immediately, wiping the tears away hastily as she glanced around at him; he was leaning against the door frame looking at her with a furrowed brow.

"I'm fine," she stated more coolly than she intended.

"No you're not - "

"God, you men!" she burst out, misdirecting her anger at Cutter. "As soon as we make a peep, you're pushing us onto the fainting couch."

"Jenny, you went through something horrific - "

"I know Nick," she snapped, looking back at herself in the mirror. "I was there, remember?"

"Is that supposed to be a dig at me for not being there?" Cutter asked, sounding slightly stung.

"No," Jenny sighed, although she was being untruthful; she hated herself for it, but she couldn't help but feel a pang of resentment at him for not being there. Which was stupid of course; the rational part of her reasoned that none of this was his fault. However, her irrational side was winning out at the present.

"I _am_ sorry," Cutter whispered, coming up behind her and rubbing his hands over her upper arms. "If I could go back in time - "

"Well you can't, can you?" she replied abruptly, looking up into his reflection, watching as his face fell into a look of shame.

She felt a slight twinge of guilt at this.

"I'm sorry, I'm just tired," she lied, pulling away from him. "I'm going back to bed."

He nodded and remained in the bathroom as she left, and he didn't return to the bedroom as she lay awake until all night.

* * *

If Cutter had ever felt more awful about himself before, he couldn't remember it; he couldn't believe he had let this happen to Jenny. He should have stayed with her twenty-four seven; protected her . . . but he hadn't - he had failed. And every time he looked at Jenny's bruised and battered face he was reminded of it. It sickened him to his stomach to think that someone - anyone - had hurt her. She had picked up various injuries over the past year and a half (indeed in their line of work it was hard not to) but this wasn't some creature or a fall - someone they had trusted, that they had worked with day after day, had attacked her.

After their abrupt conversation in the bathroom that night, Cutter had stayed downstairs, pacing and thinking. Early morning, she came downstairs fully dressed.

"Morning," she said.

"Morning," he muttered, turning away to make her some coffee.

She seemed to pause for a moment, hovering in the doorway.

"It's a lovely day," she said in a cheery voice.

He turned to her; her manner was false and jittery, and she seemed to know it, as she sighed and ran her fingers through her hair.

"Thank you," she continued in a quiet but normal voice. "For last night. For getting me home."

He raised his eyebrow at her at her referral to his place as 'home'. She flushed slightly.

"I mean your place," she added, looking rather embarrassed.

"It's okay," he smiled. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," she replied, not meeting him in the eye.

"You don't always have to be 'fine' you know," he pointed out, knowing that her stubbornness caused her to downplay everything.

"I know I don't have to be, but I am," she insisted, wincing as she bent down to pick up her bag.

"Where are you going?"

"Back to my place; the police will be there soon," she answered in a nonchalant manner, although her eyes gave her away; he could see the fear in them.

"Well I'm going with you," he insisted.

"Nick - "

"Will you stop being so bloody stubborn woman!" he said, feeling aspirated. "I'm coming, no arguments."

She looked at him for a moment; and Cutter could have sworn that the corner of her mouth tweaked upwards into a reluctant smile before she cleared her throat.

"Fine," she said coldly, walking towards the door, turning back to him. "Well are you coming?"

He smiled and followed her.

* * *

As Cutter had hoped, Abby must have been at Jenny's house, as the place was immaculate - indeed it looked as though nothing untoward had happened here. He was worried that they may have had to keep the place as it was for the police, but they had said that they were happy to work off the pictures they had taken of the 'crime scene'. When they entered, Jenny surveyed the place as though it was unfamiliar to her.

* * *

Cutter listened to Jenny give her statement to the CID officer with a slightly open mouth; as she talked and described how she and Sarah had managed to fight him off, he couldn't help feel a twinge of pride - this woman was incredible . . . how on earth had she survived?She talked in a hollow voice which never cracked, even when she was talking about the most violent parts of the story. Fury bubbled up in Cutter's stomach as her words formed mental images in his head; the thought of it made him want to cry himself, so how was she keeping her composure, he'd never know.

"Okay Miss Lewis," the officer said, finishing the last sentence of her statement. "I just need to ask you a few questions if that's okay?"

Jenny nodded.

"It's just a formality really, but we need to know," he continued, looking quiet uncomfortable. "How do you usually dress for work?"

"What?" Jenny said, looking confused.

"What attire did you usually wear when you were around this man?" he rearranged the question.

Jenny looked at Cutter in disbelief, before turning back to the officer.

"What the hell has that got to do with anything?" she demanded.

"Well, if you dressed provocatively - "

"I do not dress provocatively!" Jenny snapped. "And even if I did, does that mean I was asking for it?"

"No of course not," the officer insisted. "But this is what the Defense will be going for in Court, I'm just trying to prepare you for their questions."

"So wearing a pair of heels and a little make-up gives men legal grounds to attack women?" Jenny fumed, her temper obviously getting the better of her.

"No Miss Lewis, but you have to understand," the officer replied, running his hand through his thinning hair. "He's the one lying in a secured hospital bed right now with a machine breathing for him."

"And?"

"And your sitting here bruised, but otherwise fine," he continued. "It doesn't look good to a Jury, and the Defense will be using that."

"But she was defending herself! And her friend!" Cutter interjected, not liking what they were insinuating.

"I know that, and you know that," the officer answered. "But the Jury _doesn't._"

"So your saying that he might get off with this because of how I dressed at work, and because me and Sarah by some miracle managed to survive by knocking him unconscious?" Jenny gapped.

"I'm just saying that it's a possibility."

Jenny laughed in disbelief.

"Then I wish I would have killed him," she stated, her cheeks flushed with fury.

"Jenny - " Cutter began.

"No, I'm serious," she said, her voice rising. "At least then I'd be able to sleep at night."

She got up of the couch and walked off.

Cutter turned back to the officer, who was shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

"She's upset," Cutter mumbled as a way of apology.

"Of course," the officer replied. "I understand it's a traumatic experience, but if she could refrain from admitting intent of murder in Court, I would be very grateful," he added, standing up to leave.

Cutter showed him to the door, before joining Jenny in the kitchen. She was pacing back and forth, looking upset and angry.

"Can you believe him!" she burst out.

"He was only trying to prepare you for the worst," Cutter pointed out, leaning against the fridge.

Jenny looked around at him in incredulity.

"You're on his side!"

"No, I'm on your side, and so is he," Cutter insisted, wanting to avoid an argument. "But admitting that you wished you killed him isn't going to help anyone."

"Is that what he said?"

"Yes," Cutter answered. "But I told him you were upset - "

"Don't you apologize for me," she scoffed, crossing her arms and looking him up and down.

"I was trying to stop you getting arrested!" Cutter defended himself.

Jenny opened her mouth to argue, but the doorbell rang, cutting her off.

Glaring at him, she walked off to answer it, but he grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Leave it," he said. "We not done talking about this."

"It could be Sarah, and I can't just ignore her after what I put her through," Jenny snapped, pulling herself free.

Cutter followed her down the hall, when a voice shouted from behind the door.

"Jen, it's Mark!" a posh man's voice said as the doorbell rang again. "I just want to talk about what happened between us yesterday!"

Jenny froze, her face as white as a sheet as she looked up at Cutter.


	12. Caught out

Chapter 12

_Oh shit, _Jenny thought to herself as she glanced up into Cutter's eyes that looked back at her with cold confusion. _Could life get any worse!_

"What's he talking about?" Cutter demanded, pointing at the door.

"Jen I know you're in! Open up!" Mark's voice called through the door.

"Just, hold on a minute - " Jenny whispered to Cutter, opening the door a crack.

Mark was standing on her doorstep with a large bunch of red roses (which made Jenny squirm just looking at them). Upon seeing her, the smile he had worn was replaced by a look of shock as his eyes studied her face, stopping at her many injuries.

"What on earth happened to you?" he whispered slowly.

"Nothing, I fell," she lied. "What do you want?"

"You _fell,_ " he repeated, looking dumbstruck. "Jen, look at the state of you!"

"I said it's nothing," she insisted, desperate for him to leave. "Can you just go - "

"Who did this to you?" he demanded, letting the flowers fall to the floor.

"No one - "

"You can tell me Jen, I'll kill the bastard!"

From behind her, Jenny felt Cutter pull on the door so it opened wider, allowing him to see Mark. Mark's eyes traveled over to Cutter, looking dumbfounded - Jenny was forcefully reminded of when Cutter was knocking at her house all those months ago, and Mark had interrupted them in the same manner. It was an identical situation, but with the men reversed, and this time she actually had feelings for the man behind her.

"I thought you said you'd broken up with him?" Mark accused, gesturing at Cutter.

"What?" Cutter spluttered, looking at Jenny in disbelief.

_Crap, crap, crap, crap! _

"I - " Jenny began to explain, but she had no idea what she was going to say.

"Did you do this to her?" Mark interrupted, speaking to Cutter with a look of disgust on his face.

"No, he didn't - " Jenny said desperately, although she knew it looked very bad.

But before she could finish, Mark punched Cutter square in the face, causing him to stagger backwards into the hall.

"Oh my God!" Jenny gasped.

Mark made to barge past her after Cutter again, but Jenny stopped him, and shoved him back outside with her hands on his chest.

"Mark, just go!" she shouted, losing her temper, her ribs aching with the exertion of forcing him out.

Before he could protest further, she slammed the door in his face and turned to Cutter, breathing hard. He was wiping blood away from his lip, looking livid.

"Are you okay?" she asked him quietly.

"Well that depends on your definition of okay!" he shouted as he stormed off back into the living room.

Sighing, she followed him, bracing herself for the argument.

"What the hell is going on?" he demanded, turning to face her. "What did he mean 'what happened between us yesterday'."

"I went round to his place," she answered, looking at the floor in shame.

"And?" Cutter persisted.

"And I kissed him."

"You did WHAT?" Cutter bellowed, his face turning red with anger.

"It wasn't like that - " Jenny insisted, but Cutter turned and kicked the chair in frustration, forcing her into silence.

There was a long pause were they didn't speak.

"I'm sorry," she whispered eventually.

"How could you do that to me?"

"I thought he was the stalker - " Jenny tried to explain.

"Oh right, I get it now," Cutter said, his voice sagging with sarcasm. "You though he was your stalker, so you went round and snogged him!"

"I was trying to get a confession out of him!"

"By seducing him?"

Again, Jenny looked at the floor, unable to answer. However, her silence seemed to say it all.

"Oh Jenny," Cutter said, shaking his head and looking at her with a mixture of disappointment and disgust.

"Look, you're taking this all the wrong way - " Jenny said, desperate for him to see her side of the story.

"How far would you have taken it? Would you have slept with him?"

"Don't be ridiculous!"

"How would you feel if you found out I'd been kissing someone behind your back?" Cutter asked her, still looking furious.

"Awful," Jenny agreed quietly. "I'd feel awful."

"You'd bloody kill me, you mean," Cutter corrected her.

"Your right," Jenny said truthfully. "I'm sorry . . . I just needed to know."

"You're the second woman I love to do something like this to me," Cutter fumed.

"Oh don't compare me to Helen!" Jenny snapped. "What she did with Stephen was inexcusable; what I did was for a reason, however misguided it was - hang on," she suddenly though about his words. "What did you just say?"

"What?" Cutter said, distracted.

"Just repeat what you said."

"You're the second woman I love to do something like this to me?" Cutter said again.

"Love?" Jenny repeated, in spite of herself feeling a jolt of excitement.

"Yes . . ."

"You - you've never actually said that to me before," she informed him, feeling bemused.

"I . . . I know," Cutter stuttered, all of a sudden looking rather bashful.

"You love me?"

Cutter sighed; his anger seemed to be abating slightly

"Of course I bloody love you!" he exclaimed eventually.

Jenny smiled at him; she couldn't help herself, and after a moments pause, he smiled back reluctantly.

She knew that he cared about her a lot, but he had been hurt quite a bit in the past, so she wasn't really expecting him to reciprocate her feelings - well not after such a short while anyway. As she remembered, when this whole stalker thing had began, she thought that the card that was written _'I will love you forever' _was from him, and she had been surprised, and yet overjoyed. She didn't want to admit it at the time, but when he had told her he hadn't sent the roses, she had been bitterly disappointed.

"I can't believe you've just said that," she said, laughing slightly.

He shuffled his feet, and looked down at the floor.

"Although," she began in a mock-hurt voice as she approached him. "I didn't really picture you screaming it at me in an argument as the most romantic way of you saying it."

"Ah well, beggars can't be choosers," Cutter replied with a reluctant smirk.

Jenny put her arms around his neck, ignoring her protesting ribs, and pulled him into a kiss. It was slightly awkward considering they both had split lips, but to Jenny, it was perfect. They broke apart.

"I love you too," Jenny breathed, holding him close to her. "And I am sorry, about the whole Mark thing . . . I'll never do anything that stupid again."

"You'd better not," he replied, his voice muffled in her hair.

"I promise."

* * *

**Next chapter is the last I'm afraid! X**


	13. Healing

Chapter 13

Jenny woke with a start to find the room pitch black. She had been having an awful dream about . . . _that night _. . . sighing in frustration, she turned to the warm body next to her.

Brookes's face stared back at her, merely inches away, his mouth curled into a menacing sneer.

Jenny screamed at the top of her lungs and sat up, flailing to get out of the covers.

"What?" Cutter's voice shouted, sounding panicked. "What's the matter?"

Jenny scrambled out of the bed and over to the wall, breathing hard.

"What's wrong?" Cutter demanded, switching the light on.

The room was completely empty, apart from the two of them.

"Jenny?" Cutter persisted, approaching her slowly. "What is it?"

Jenny tried to steady her breath, her heart still racing a mile a minute.

"Nothing," she breathed eventually. "Just . . . bad dreams . . ."

"About what?"

"_Him,_" she replied bitterly, still so disturbed that her pride had disappeared.

Cutter gave her a sympathetic look, pulling her into a hug.

"It's alright," he soothed. "He can't hurt you anymore."

"No, not until he's free to roam the streets again," Jenny muttered.

Cutter didn't reply, probably because he didn't know what to reply with. He just held her for a long while, until she felt herself calming.

"Sorry, I must have given you a heart attack," she said, with an attempted smile.

"Yeah," Cutter laughed. "I'm joining a gym tomorrow, that's now not fun it was."

"I'm sorry," Jenny whispered again, kissing him as way of an apology.

As she did so, she felt him kiss her back; a loving, needy kiss that tugged right at her heart . . . she felt so safe with him.

Before she knew it, they were in bed as the kiss intensified; she was aware that Cutter was carefully trying to avoid her injuries as his hands wandered over her very slowly and hesitantly, as though he was afraid that she would break. Jenny closed her eyes; this was exactly what she needed - blissful oblivion where she didn't need to think or worry. However, as soon as his touch slid under the material of his long shirt that she wore and glided up her thigh, she flashed back to Brookes's cold hands doing exactly the same thing.

"I can't!" she heard herself shout as she pushed him off.

"It's okay!" Cutter insisted immediately. "It's fine . . . we don't have to do anything . . ."

But Jenny was already on her feet, pulling her jeans on quickly.

"Where are you going?" Cutter asked, sitting up urgently.

"I just need to go and clear my head," she answered.

"I'll go with you - "

"No," Jenny replied quickly. "I just need to sort myself out . . . alone . . ."

"Look, I'm sorry if I . . . well, if I pushed you - "

"You didn't," Jenny insisted truthfully. "It's me, I'm all over the place . . ."

"Jenny - "

"No Nick, just give me some time," she snapped, as she walked off, grabbing her coat as she ran down the stairs and pulling it on over Cutter's shirt she hadn't bothered to change out of.

Even before she got in the car, she knew where she was going to go. As she drove, her mind wondered back to Cutter; the hurt look on his face when she had bailed on him. She'd been causing that look a lot lately - after the brief moment of happiness they had shared when they'd both said 'I love you', their relationship had descended into arguments and abrupt conversations. And it was all Jenny's fault. She knew that Cutter was trying his best, and she was being so horrible to him. And she didn't even know why. Perhaps it was the fact that she hadn't back to work in a week on Lester's orders, and it was sheer boredom. Or maybe it was because every time Nick touched her, it was Brookes's hands she felt on her instead.

* * *

Grumbling, Sarah staggered out of bed, pulling on her dressing gown and making her way to the door. The bell was ringing incessantly.

When she finally opened the door, Jenny was standing there, dressed very strangely in a large men's shirt, which hung off her. Her face was still bruised; however since the last time Sarah had seen her (which was in the hospital a week ago), the swelling in her lip seemed to have gone, and her black eye was more of a yellowish discolouring, showing that it was healing slowly.

"Jenny, it's . . ." Sarah began in a croaky voice, checking her watch. " . . . three am," she finished. "What's up?"

Jenny took a deep breath, tears falling fast from her eyes.

"I can't do it Sarah," she cried, hugging herself around her stomach. "I can't - "

"Come in," Sarah insisted, perplexed as she stood aside to let her past.

She closed the door behind her, all tiredness forgotten.

"What can't you do?" Sarah asked, shepherding Jenny into the living room and onto the couch.

"Cutter . . . me and Cutter . . . I can't do it anymore," she sobbed. "I keep pushing him away . . ."

"Okay," said Sarah in her most soothing tone. "You've completely lost me. Just start from the beginning."

Jenny took a deep breath, and when she spoke next, it was in a much steadier voice.

"We were at his house," she began, wiping the tears away from her cheeks impatiently. "And we were in . . . you know . . . and we were about to . . . _you know_ . . ." she continued, giving Sarah a meaningful look.

"Jenny, my house isn't bugged, you can actually _say_ the words," Sarah pointed out, suppressing a smile.

"It's easier this way."

"I never thought of you as a prude," Sarah teased, trying to joke her out of her mood; it worked slightly, as she smiled reluctantly.

"_Anyway,"_ Jenny carried on. "While he was . . . getting to work . . ." Sarah rolled her eyes at this point, "I felt like it was Brookes, and I pushed him off."

"Well I'm sure that's perfectly normal after what you've been through," Sarah reasoned, curling her feet underneath her on the couch.

"What about you?" Jenny asked. "How are you doing it?"

"Well luckily for me, I don't have the burden of sleeping with hot men at the moment," she replied sarcastically.

Jenny smirked. "That's not quite what I meant. You went through exactly the same thing as me, and you seem to be handling it _a lot_ better than I am."

Sarah paused and thought for a moment; true, she had been attacked as well - she face and body was bruised, and her self esteem was shot. But it was completely different to what happened to Jenny.

"It was you Brookes was after," Sarah pointed out. "I was just in the way. That's probably why you're finding it more difficult."

"If I can't sort myself out soon, I'm going to lose Nick," Jenny sighed, sinking back into the couch.

"Hey, if Cutter was annoyed at you for not sleeping with him, then he's being a pig," Sarah said.

"Oh no, Nick's been brilliant," Jenny informed her quickly. "He's been really understanding and supportive - "

"The fiend," Sarah interjected sarcastically.

"It's me who's the problem," Jenny continued, ignoring her interruption. "I just lose it; and I can feel myself getting nutty, but I can't stop it. I'm pushing him away. I keep starting arguments, and doing stupid things."

"If you let that psychopath get in the way of you and Cutter, I will kill you," Sarah said, slightly aspirated. "It took you both ages to stop being idiots and get together - "

"I know this - "

"And if you let your relationship go, then Brookes has won," Sarah finished.

Jenny sighed, leaning her head back on the cushion.

"He's in my head," she spoke after a while.

"Who?"

"Brookes," she said quietly. "And I can't get him out."

They both sat in silence for a long while, both obviously lost in their own thoughts.

"I need a drink," Sarah said eventually, prizing herself off the couch.

Jenny looked up at her in disbelief.

"It's four-thirty in the morning!" she laughed, checking her watch.

"And?" Sarah asked as she made her way to the kitchen. "If I've got to once again deal with a Jenny-and-Cutter drama, I need a drink."

"But we can't drink this early!"

"It's midday somewhere, right?" Sarah reasoned as she brought in a bottle of wine and two glasses. "And you're the one who woke me up."

"You're a bad influence Dr Paige," Jenny mocked as Sarah poured out the drink.

Sarah handed her a glass.

"Here's to . . ." Sarah thought. " . . . us kicking the crap out of some nutter."

She raised her glass and clinked it with Jenny's; a reluctant smile flickered across the woman's face.

"I never did thank you," Jenny said quietly, looking down at her drink.

"For what?"

"You saved my life," Jenny continued, taking a sip of her drink. "If you wouldn't have showed up, I would be dead right now."

"Well you saved my life too," Sarah pointed out truthfully - she remembered clearly Jenny pulling Brookes off her as he was choking her to within an inch of her life.

"Well I guess I did," Jenny smiled.

They drank in silence for a few moments. Then suddenly, an idea popped into Sarah's head.

"I know how you're going to get over this!" she exclaimed sharply, causing Jenny to spill half her wine on herself in shock.

"What?" Jenny grumbled, dabbing the shirt she was wearing.

"But it might be quite tricky to arrange . . ." Sarah continued.

* * *

**Okay . . . maybe one more chapter! X**


	14. The visit

Chapter 14

It was seven thirty in the morning, and Jenny and Sarah were both walking in silence down a hospital corridor, their shoes squeaking loudly on the pristine white floor. Jenny was fidgeting uncomfortably as they went; the top she had borrowed off Sarah was far too tight and it stretched tight over her chest, making her feel a tad self conscious. It didn't help that her heart was pumping erratically as though it was trying to fit a life time of beats in to those few minutes - she wouldn't admit it, but she was terrified about what she was about to do. From the corner of her eye, she saw Sarah shoot her a concerned look, so apparently, the worry must have shown on her face.

"Are you okay?" Sarah asked quietly, as they turned yet another corner in the white labyrinth of corridors.

Jenny hesitated before answering, unable to summon up a truthful response.

"We don't have to do this you know," Sarah continued, after Jenny had failed to reply.

"It was your idea!" Jenny pointed out in disbelief.

"I know," Sarah conceded. "But I'm just saying, if you don't think you can - "

"I can," Jenny insisted. "I have to . . . for closure."

"By the way - how did you get us permission to be in here?" Sarah said curiously. "You just said your name to the receptionist and she let you through."

"I just . . . made a few phone calls," Jenny answered cryptically.

"The power you have over people is astounding."

"Never underestimate the value of a few well chosen words whispered in the right peoples ears," Jenny smirked at her as they climbed another flight of stairs.

They turned another corner and approached the room they had been searching for, slowing as they reached it. Jenny took a deep breath to calm her nerves, and made to open the door, but Sarah stopped her with her hand on her arm.

"Are you_ sure_ about this?" she asked again.

Jenny looked back at the door that she knew he was behind . . . the image of his face was emblazoned in her mind, so much so that she could hardly shut her eyes without seeing him. If this was the only way to get him out, then she was going to do it.

"Absolutely," she stated to Sarah, before she pushed the door open.

The room was very large, and had several beds in it, although none of the others were occupied. It was very dimly lit with a long ceiling light that flickered slightly; the blinds were firmly shut, blocking out any natural light from entering through the window. With a jolt, Jenny's gaze fell on the bed in the far corner.

Brookes.

Whether he was asleep or unconscious, it was impossible to tell. A machine next to him beeped softly and rhythmically in the background, monitoring his heart rate and blood pressure, Jenny supposed. He had a drip on the other side of his bed with a wire coming out of it that was attached to his hand, which lay on top of the bedcover. His other hand, Jenny noticed with a rush of relief, was handcuffed to the side of the bed. However, just looking at him made her feel as though she was paralysed with fright. As she stared down at him, she felt Sarah move from beside her to the foot of the bed, picking up a file and skimming through it.

"What's wrong with him?" Jenny asked numbly.

"Severe concussion . . ." Sarah began to read quietly. "Three broken ribs which pierced his lung, causing it to collapse . . . he's had surgery to drain excess fluid from the pleural space to allow the lung to re-expand . . . he also had swelling on his brain, but they've relieved the pressure by inserting holes in the skull and extracting the cerebrospinal fluid . . ." she looked up from the file at Jenny, and it was obvious that she had felt the same pang of guilt that Jenny had herself.

Of course, they were completely justified in their actions, and they did what they had to do to survive; but seeing him like that, and hearing all the surgery that had been necessary to fix their mess . . . they wouldn't have been human if they didn't feel something, even if it was just shock at the damaged they had managed to cause on a man, and a soldier to boot.

Jenny moved over to stand by Sarah, glancing over her shoulder at the file, when a croaky, quiet voice spoke.

"I knew you'd come."

Brookes had woken up; he looked like he was tired, and in a lot of pain, but his eyes gleamed with delight as he stared at Jenny. After the initial shock of him speaking had subsided, Jenny approached him cautiously and took a seat next to his bed, ignoring Sarah's hand that had closed around her arm to stop her. She was in very close proximity to him which made her pulse quicken, but she had reasoned with herself that the only way to get him out of her head was to prove that she wasn't scared of him anymore.

"I would ask you how you got in, but I know you can get any man to do whatever you want - " he continued in the same dry voice, laced with amusement.

"I came to ask you something," Jenny interrupted in a cold, clear voice.

"It's okay . . . I forgive you," he sighed, wincing as he did so. "I know you only hurt me because you were scared."

"I'm not here to apologize," she said, looking at him in disgust. "You nearly killed me. And Sarah."

"Well if you would have just listened to me like I asked, no one would have gotten hurt - " he said.

"Why me?" Jenny cut him off.

"Excuse me?"

"Why me?" she repeated more firmly. "Why did you choose me to do this to?"

"I didn't choose you . . . you chose me," he replied. "The way you walk around wearing those short skirts and low-cut tops," his eyes lingered at the neckline of her top, and instinctively, Jenny pulled her coat tighter around herself to cover up. "The way you'd tease me - "

"Don't you put this on me!" Jenny hissed at him, feeling self conscious at his insinuation. "What happened was because of something you did, not me!"

"Tease," he repeated, a smile creeping across his lips.

Jenny felt as though she'd been slapped in the face. None-the-less, she swallowed his taunts and acted like she hadn't heard them.

"I'll ask you again," she said in a forced-calm voice. "Why me?"

"You know . . ." he began wistfully. "My lawyer says I've got a good chance of getting off with this. I mean, when the jury hears about my impressive background as a soldier, fighting for my country, why would they convict me? Especially considering how you dress - "

"Stop - "

"I'll be seen as the poor traumatized soldier, who fell under some whore's spell, only to be dumped ever so cruelly. I had been led on . . . I was upset . . . what's a man to do hmm?"

Jenny stared back at him in horror, not believing what she was hearing. Then again, that's basically what the CID officer had told her.

"The most I'll get is a couple of years in a mental institution," he continued. "I'll be out in a year with good behavior. Then I'll be free to pay you a visit. See how your life's getting along - "

"Come on," Sarah's interjected, her hands on Jenny's shoulders. "This was a bad idea. Let's go."

Jenny allowed Sarah to guide her towards the door, feeling numb with shock.

"Why did you come?" Brookes asked loudly.

Jenny froze and turned to look at him again. He was smiling at them in a leering fashion, clearly loving seeing her so broken.

"Have I been in your head, Jenny?" he smirked.

"Come on," Sarah repeated firmly, pulling Jenny through the door.

* * *

**Okay, I know I keep saying that this is the last chapter, but I think I need one more to bring the story full circle. It will end at some point I promise! As always, let me know your thoughts, good or bad x**


	15. Sarah's confession

Chapter 15

Jenny hadn't been in touch all night; and neither would she answer any of his calls. This left Cutter feeling a mixture of worry at why she hadn't contacted him, and anger that all this had happened in the first place. Then again, he supposed that he should have seen this coming. After all, every time he had been happy in his life, he had either managed to royally screw it up himself, or the cosmos had done it for him. A prime example would be with Claudia; he had erased her from time by leaving the baby future predators in the Permian era. It had taken him an age to get over this and accept Jenny for who she really was; not an inferior Claudia copy, but a different woman who had her own beautifully warm personality, which he had found when he finally let her in to his heart. Of course, she still had streaks of Claudia in her, which he could see sometimes by the expressions she pulled or some of her mannerisms, like the way she cocked her head to one side when she was trying to look cute. She was always cute of course, but it was usually when she was trying to get him to do something he didn't want to do, like go to some fancy restaurant. She almost always won him over as well; just one look from those brown eyes and he was hooked. Over time, he had learned to accept that he _had_ loved Claudia, and that their relationship quite possibly could have become something amazing, but now he loved Jenny; he loved her for who she was, and not just because she looked like Claudia. Well, maybe that was the reason why he was infatuated with her at the beginning, but it certainly wasn't any more. After spending months beating himself up about his feelings for both women, he had finally convinced himself that just because he now loved Jenny didn't mean that he had loved Claudia any less, and vice versa. It was just one of those things that he had had to accept.

Now, of course, some psychopath had mucked everything up between them. He could feel Jenny pulling away from him, both physically and emotionally, and nothing he said or did seemed to make a blind bit of difference. If fact, the previous night, he had been trying to comfort her after she had woke up screaming; trying to make her feel safe again. It was her who had pulled him towards the bed to his recollection, and she was the one who turned up the heat on the kissing . . . and after all, with the way she looked, he was in no position to say 'no' . . . and then, out of nowhere, she screamed and pushed him off as though he was . . . well as though he was forcing her into something. He understood that she was upset and confused, and of course she would have a distrust of men after what had happened, but he thought she saw him differently.

He pulled up outside the ARC and sat back in his seat with a sigh.

_I don't know, maybe I am being a jerk about this,_ he though to himself, running his hands over his tired face.

As he made his way into the ARC main room, he half expected to see Jenny there, but he knew she wasn't due to start back up at work again for another few days so he was hardly surprised that she wasn't around. But where on earth was she then? He doubted very much that she had gone back to her house, as she couldn't seem to stand the place anymore. He assumed that she would probably sell up some time soon, and it had crossed his mind to ask her to move in with him full time, but the way things were between them at the moment . . . well, he wouldn't want to come on too strong incase he freaked her out and made her back off even more.

The only other logical place she could be is Sarah's or Abby's - she didn't really get along with her parents, and at any rate, she'd probably want to stay with some one who was aware of what had happened. _Why couldn't she just call to let him know she was okay . . ._

"Cutter!" Conner's voice traveled over to him from the Anomaly Detector. Cutter walked over to him, and he continued, "Lester wants to see you, he said as soon as you come in - "

"Yeah, yeah," Cutter waved his words away, distracted. "Listen Conner, Jenny didn't happen to stay with you last night did she?"

"No," Conner answered quickly, looking shocked. "Why would you ask that?"

"Conner, relax," Cutter interjected, suppressing a smile with difficulty. "I'm not accusing you of having an affair with her, I just wondered if she stayed with Abby last night?"

"Not to my knowledge," Conner said thoughtfully. "Why, are you two fighting again?"

"No, not really - wait a minute," Cutter interrupted himself, twigging on to what he had said. "What do you mean fighting _again_ ?"

At this, Conner looked down at the floor, and massaged the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Has she been talking to you about it?" Cutter demanded, feeling stung that they had been talking about this behind his back.

"No, not to me . . ." Conner mumbled, a pink tinge appearing on his cheeks. "I kind of . . . overheard a few conversations between her and Abby over the phone - "

"Overheard?" Cutter repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, I was eavesdropping actually," Conner admitted.

"Great," Cutter muttered sarcastically, as he walked towards Lester's office.

* * *

"What do you want?" he asked Lester grumpily as he entered.

"I've missed you too Cutter," Lester answered, his nose still buried in a file, and his voice seeped in sarcasm as usual. "Take a seat."

Cutter stormed over and flopped on the uncomfortable chair. Lester put the file down and surveyed him for a moment before speaking.

"How is she?" he asked, his tone unusually soft.

Cutter knew he was talking about Jenny.

"Not good," Cutter replied coldly. "Thanks to you."

"Me?"

"Well you're the one who hired this Brookes man!" Cutter burst out, his anger getting the better of him.

"Well funnily enough Cutter, people tend not to list stalking under extracurricular activities on their CV - "

"This is your fault and you know it!" Cutter interrupted, straightening up.

"I offered her a military escort!" Lester bellowed suddenly, slamming his fist on the table, making Cutter start. "But she refused - "

"Yeah, and knowing you, you would have sent the psycho that was stalking her to do it!" Cutter retorted.

"Now, just wait a minute - !" Lester began, but he was interrupted by a knock on the glass door.

Sarah poked her head round.

"Cutter, could I have a word please?" she said, seeming not to care that she'd just walked in on a shouting match.

Cutter got off the chair and made to follow her out.

"We're not done here Cutter!" Lester yelled after him.

"Yes, we are," Cutter mumbled, as he let the glass door fall closed behind him, drowning out Lester's voice.

He turned to face Sarah.

"She's staying at yours, I assume?" he asked her in a forced-calm voice.

She nodded, looking quite shifty. "Cutter . . ." she began quietly. "I think I did something really stupid."

"What?"

"Well, Jenny came to mine last night, and she told me about what had happened between the two of you - "

"My God, is there anyone in here that doesn't know every detail of my love life!" Cutter exclaimed, feeling a flush of embarrassment wash over him.

"Oh girls talk, Cutter, get over it!" Sarah said impatiently. "Anyway, I suggested . . . well, I suggested that we go and visit Brookes so she could have some sort of closure - "

"You didn't . . ." Cutter shook his head, looking at her in disbelief.

"Yes, we did. We went to do it this morning - "

"Sarah!" Cutter sighed in frustration.

"I know!" she said, looking embarrassed. "It was an awful idea . . . the things he said to her . . ."

"What?" Cutter demanded.

"That she was a tease who had led him on, and that he'd get two years at most because he's a soldier, and after that, he would come and get her again," she mumbled, looking at the floor.

"Did he now?" Cutter snarled, feeling blood pounding in his ears.

"I'm only telling you because I know Jenny won't, and I don't want you two to split up,' Sarah informed him, clearly trying to justify to herself betraying Jenny's trust.

"No, you did the right thing," Cutter said more gently, patting her clumsily on the shoulder as he turned back to go into Lester's office.

"What are you going to do?" Sarah shouted after him.

"I'm going to sort this," he replied, before the glass door closed.

"Back to have another go are we?" Lester drawled.

"No," Cutter answered honestly. "But you're going to help me with something."

He rounded Lester's desk and pushed on his chair.

"Come on! UP!"

"Cutter, were you bitten by some sort of raved animal when you left this office!" Lester exclaimed as he batted Cutter's hand away from the back of his chair.

"Look!" Cutter argued. "Whether you admit it or not, we both know that you owe Jenny big time. And now you're going to help her out."

Cutter was cleverly playing on Lester's emotions; he knew he was more fond of Jenny than he was the rest of the team, whether it was because they were of the same class, or simply because he viewed her as his second in command. He saw Lester pause for a moment, considering his words.

"Fine," he mumbled eventually, standing up and buttoning his blazer. "But I'm not doing anything dirty!"

* * *

**Right, I'm not going to bother trying to estimate when it's going to be the last chapter because I just keep adding more! Lol, lets just say it'll be done when it's done!**

**Review if you can :D**


	16. Brookes's story

Chapter 16

"You took your time," Cutter grumbled as Lester got into the drivers seat next to him in the car.

"I needed to find the address," Lester answered. "And while I was there, I asked Lorraine to find out some information about this Brookes - look at this . . ." he handed Cutter a piece of paper.

Cutter looked down at it to see that a photograph of a woman had been printed out on it; he had to double take - she looked remarkably like Jenny. Just how many of this woman were there out there? But upon closer inspection, he noticed the woman in the picture was slightly chubbier than Jenny, and she had blue eyes, as well as a much more pointed chin. Still, the resemblance was uncanny . . .

He looked back up at Lester.

"Who is this?" he asked, holding up the photograph.

"That," Lester began smugly. "Is Brookes's fiancee, Susanna. Do you notice anything about her?"

"She looks like Jenny," Cutter replied numbly. "Where is she?"

"She's dead," Lester answered abruptly, clicking in his seat belt. Cutter looked at him in surprise, and he elaborated, "Car accident."

Cutter looked back down at the picture, feeling everything click slowly into place. So that's why he'd started stalking Jenny; he had seen in her the woman he had loved and lost so tragically. In spite of himself, Cutter felt a tiny sliver of sympathy for Brookes, but he shook it away mentally - just because he had lost a loved one didn't give him the right to attack anyone. And just because the woman Brookes loved looked like the woman Cutter loved, it didn't give him the rights to her.

"Come on, lets go," Cutter said to Lester.

* * *

They had no problem gaining access to the hospital, even though Cutter was sure that they were doing something illegal . . . the word 'intimidation' seemed to spring to mind. But this is why he had brought Lester with him; no matter how much he detested the man, he had to admit, he had power, which was something they had against Brookes. When they got to his room, he was asleep, and by the look of him, he was in a right state - Cutter couldn't help but feel a twinge of satisfaction that his girl had managed to defend herself to such a degree, as if she hadn't, she would probably be the one in the hospital bed, or worse.

Lester took a seat on the chair next to Brookes's bed, lounging back on it as though he sat with borderline psychopaths everyday. He glanced up and Cutter and nodded. Cutter picked up a glass of water that was perched on the bedside table and poured it on directly onto Brookes's face. The man awoke with a start, spluttering.

"Oh good, you're awake," Lester drawled casually.

"What - ?" Brookes began angrily, but Cutter cut him off by grabbing him by the collar of his hospital gown.

"Shut up," he snarled.

"Now now Cutter," Lester sighed in a mock-disappointed voice. "Lets not resort to violence . . . lets let our little friend here explain himself first."

With a dramatic growl, Cutter let go of him. This was their plan - a little good cop, bad cop.

"So Timothy, I hope the hospital food's up to scratch for you," Lester continued, examining his fingernails as though he was bored with the proceedings. "It's probably much better than prison food - "

"What do you want?" Brookes croaked, wincing in pain as he heaved himself up onto his elbows.

"I wanted to tell you that if you ever go near Jenny again, you'll be sucking the hospital food through a straw when I've finished with you," Cutter said in a dangerous whisper, desperately trying to control his anger - but what he wouldn't give to hurt him more so than he already was . . .

Brookes laughed slightly; a cruel raspy cackle that for a second turned Cutter's blood cold.

"You don't scare me," he stated. "When I get out of here, Jenny and I will be together again . . . I love her more than you ever could."

"Is that so?" Cutter exclaimed.

"Yes."

"Tell me then," Cutter demanded. "What's her favorite colour?"

"Excuse me?"

"What is her favorite colour?"

Brookes was silent for a moment, looking slightly confused.

"It's pink," Cutter answered his own question. "Although she'll never wear it; she thinks it makes her look like a teenager - she prefers to wear black. What's her favorite film?"

"I - " Brookes began.

"It's The Way We Were," Cutter interrupted. "She cries every single time she watches it. Where is she ticklish?"

"Okay, now you're making me sick," Lester chimed in, but Cutter ignored him.

"Down the back of her legs . . . her thighs in particular," he answered before Brookes had even had a chance to guess. "What's her favorite hobby?"

Again, Brookes said nothing, but only stared back at Cutter with deep loathing in his eyes.

"If you asked her, she'd say shopping," Cutter began truthfully. "But it's really going down to the shooting range. She's a crack shot - "

"Why are you asking me all this?" Brookes asked quietly.

"Doesn't it strike you as odd that you love her so much, and you two are made for each other, and yet you know nothing about her?"

Brookes looked away from him for a second. "You wouldn't understand."

Cutter reached into his pocket and pulled out the folded up picture, and gently opened it; holding it up to Brookes.

"What was Susanna's favorite colour Tim?"

His eyes darted back to him, and rested on the photograph, the colour draining completely out of his already pale face.

"Don't talk about her," he whispered.

"What was her favorite film Tim?" Cutter persisted. "Where was she ticklish - ?"

"I said shut your filthy mouth!" Brookes yelled, screwing up his eyes as tears streamed down his face.

"I bet you know all these answers, don't you?"

Again, Brookes looked away, wiping his wet face. Cutter didn't think he'd ever seen a man look so broken . . . so pathetic . . . and the problem was that a tiny part of him could relate to what he was going through. After all, he had lost Helen and Claudia.

"I know that you miss her," Cutter said in the softest tone he could muster, whilst still feeling a mixture of disgust and anger at the man. "But you have to understand Tim - Jenny isn't Susanna. She can't _be_ Susanna for you. No one can."

"I . . ." Brookes croaked, looking up at the ceiling as fresh tears fell fast out of his cold grey eyes. "I can't bare living without her . . . I loved her . . . "

"I know how you feel," Cutter continued, placing the photograph of the woman down on the bedside table. "Believe me, I do. But what you did was despicable; there's no excuse for attacking a woman you were supposed to be protecting."

"I know," Brookes replied quietly; the realization of what he had done seemed to be finally taking hold of him. "I know . . ."

He put his hands over his face and sobbed loudly, between every breath he'd murmur, "I'm sorry . . . I'm sorry . . ." over and over again.

Cutter straightened up and glanced at Lester, who was watching the man break down with cool impassiveness. As Cutter caught his eye, he stood up and cleared his throat.

"Mr Brookes," he began clearly. "I shall be seeing to it that you get dealt with in the harshest manner possible. And if by some miracle you manage to snake your way out of it, rest assured that if you ever come near any of my staff again, be it Miss Lewis or Dr Paige, then I will have you dragged off and locked in a secure government vault for the rest of your days. Do I make myself clear?"

After a slight pause, Brookes nodded, his hands still plastered to his wet face.

"Lovely," Lester said cheerfully, buttoning up his blazer. "Shall we Cutter?"

He made his way towards the door, and after a slight pause, Cutter followed, glancing back at Brookes briefly as he did. The man was holding the picture of his dead fiancee in front of him, staring at it with such sad tenderness that Cutter was forced to think back to what he had put Jenny through to stop himself feeling sorry for him. And with that, he walked out and left the man to his grieving, quietly confident that they would not be hearing from him again.

* * *

**Alright, the next chapter will DEFIANTLY be the last lol! Please let me know your thoughts, as comments (be it constructive or otherwise) will really help when it comes to me writing my next fic, as previous reviews have helped me with this one x**


	17. The drinking haze

**Sorry for the long wait, it's been hectic the past few days! Quick explanation - I will need another two chapters to round the story off, HOWEVER I will put them up in the same night so that I technically didn't break my promise of this being the last chapter. Well sort of :S **

**So enjoy and reviewwwww! X**

* * *

Chapter 17

Jenny tilted her head back and allowed the tequila to trickle down her throat, burning as it went. With every drink, she felt a little less; a pleasant numbness enveloped her more and more as the evening went by, which was a very welcome relief. The middle aged barman was wiping a glass clean, and giving her a look of polite concern as she slammed the shot glass down on the bar.

"Same again please," she said, aware that her words were slightly slurred.

"Don't you think you've had enough love?" he asked gently.

"No," she answered bluntly.

"Look, maybe I should phone you a taxi - "

"No!" Jenny snapped, fishing a ten pound note out of her purse and throwing it on the bar. "I've got the money, so just pour me the damn drink!"

The barman sighed, and turned away from her to pour her out a fresh glass. Jenny's mobile buzzed violently on the bar next to her, making her start. She looked at the number, and saw that it was Sarah, so she flipped it open.

"Hello?"

"Jenny, where are you? You weren't here when I got in," Sarah's voice said, sounding anxious.

"In some bar, why?"

"What bar?" Sarah demanded.

"I don't know, one on Brownlow road," Jenny replied casually.

"Just . . . wait there, I'll come and get you - "

"Sarah, I'm fine I don't need you to come and get me!" Jenny snapped; why was everyone treating her like an invalid!

"Just don't move, okay?" she replied, sounding aspirated, before hanging up the phone.

Scowling, Jenny snapped her phone shut just as the barman was bringing her the drink. He placed a bag of crisps that she hadn't asked for next to her also.

"Eat something," he stated, giving her a stern look.

Jenny glared up at him, feeling herself swaying on the stool. Shrugging, he walked back off up the bar as she pounded another tequila; the crisps lay on the bar untouched. In the corner, she could see a bunch of men eyeing her up blatantly, but she ignored them. That is until one of them eventually came over and perched on the stool next to her.

"What's a pretty girl like you doing drinking alone?" he smiled cheesily.

She looked round at him, fighting to keep her head steady, and let out a laugh. He looked about twenty years old, and had dark blonde longish hair that swept around his face. From behind him, his friends were jeering and catcalling, making her cringe inwardly.

"Can I get you another drink?" he asked hopefully.

"No," she replied sharply.

"Oh come on," he persisted, gesturing over to the barman. "Another one won't hurt. I'm Pete by the way."

"Well _Pete_," Jenny said abruptly. "Even though you seem to have the IQ of a six-year-old, I think that even you can work out that I'm not interested. So you can go and try your outdated chat-up lines on some one who gives a damn. And then maybe if your lucky, you'll end up going home with someone other than your own hand, okay?"

"God, you have an acid tongue," the man called Pete replied, sounding more amused than offended.

"Just go away," Jenny slurred as the barman placed two glasses of red wine in front of Pete, giving him an stern look as he did so.

"I've got you a drink now, the least you can do is have it with me."

Jenny didn't reply, but scowled heavily as she took the glass he offered her - she was in no mood for this. He watched her take a large gulp.

"Do you know you're really beautiful?" he said eventually.

"Am I Pete?" she said sarcastically. "Thanks, I feel so much better about myself now that I know some loser in a grotty bar finds me attractive."

"So I take it you don't receive complements well?"

"How many languages can you say get lost in?" Jenny retorted, still nursing her glass of wine.

"Several actually," he gloated, seemingly oblivious to Jenny's disdain.

"Look_ Pete_," Jenny snapped, losing her patience. "I'm sure you're really nice, but you can ply me with as much wine as you want . . . it's not going to happen. All the alcohol in the world wouldn't make me jump into bed with you. So why don't you save yourself some time, and take the little dignity you have left and go rejoin your friends."

Pete paused, looking as though he was about to say something, but he thought better of it. Sighing, he got up and walked back to his friends; as he sat down, they all laughed and patted him on the back in a teasing manner.

Jenny returned to her drink.

* * *

A mist had descended over Jenny's vision as she lent her head against her arm that was resting on the bar. She had no idea what time it was, or how long she'd been there; all she knew is that her head was swirling violently, and she was fighting back the urge to vomit. The barman had placed a pint of water next to her in the futile hope that she'd drink it, but at the time, she could no more coordinate her hand to pick it up than she could fly. In her haze, she could hear Brookes's voice as clear as though he was sitting beside her.

'_I knew you'd come' . . . 'tease' . . . 'I'll be free to pay you a visit' . . . 'see how your life's getting along' . . . 'have I been in your head, Jenny?'_

She felt a hand close around her shoulder, making her jump. It was that Pete guy.

"Come on darling, I'll take you home," his voice said as though from a great distance away.

"No . . ." Jenny said faintly, trying to pull herself away from him.

"Come on," he repeated, pulling her so insistently that she almost fell off her stool.

"Get off . . ."

"Jenny?" a shocked voice said from the doorway.

It was Cutter.

* * *

Sarah had phoned Cutter a while back and had told him that Jenny was in some bar, although it had taken him a while to be able to locate the place. Sarah was obviously worried about her, and to tell the truth, so was Cutter. He hadn't seen her for a few days, so he hadn't even had the opportunity to explain to her about Brookes. But this was definitely not like Jenny at all; staying out and drinking 'till all hours. He knew her more than anybody did, and she was not the type of woman to drink this much.

He stopped outside one of the many bars on Brownlow road, hoping that five times was a charm. It didn't look like the type of place Jenny would usually hang out in, but he thought he might as well try it - she wasn't answering her mobile, so he had no other choice but to wander aimlessly around in the hopes of spotting her. He had the feeling that Sarah would have been more than capable of doing this herself, especially since Jenny was practically living with her, but he suspected that she was trying to throw them together to make them talk. Not the he was complaining - he was eager to talk to Jenny himself, but she didn't seem to want to, and whether it was just a temporary thing, he was unsure of, and afraid to ask.

He pushed the door open, and with a jolt, he spotted Jenny perched on a stool at the bar, swaying alarmingly. Some guy seemed to be pawing her shoulder, and her efforts to shrug him off seemed futile.

"Jenny?" he gapped, feeling jealousy pulsate through him.

She turned, her eyes looking slightly unfocused.

"Nick?" she said, sounding surprised.

He strode over, surveying the man next to her with cold confusion.

"What's going on?"

"Listen, mate," the man began, his hand still on Jenny's shoulder. "This is a private conversation - "

Cutter shoved him in his chest so that he staggered backwards, his anger spilling over.

"Back off," he snarled, putting his arms around Jenny's waist protectively to help her up.

She was either completely oblivious to the other guys presence, or else she didn't really care - it seemed to take her all the energy she had to get to her feet. She staggered against Cutter, grabbing his shirt to steady herself, and he was forced to told her tighter to stop her from collapsing.

"Come on," he said to her, glaring at the man as he steered her towards the exit with difficulty.

How he managed to get her to his car, he'd never know, but before long he was helping her into the passengers seat. As he got in himself, he slammed the door shut with unnecessary force, his anger winning out over concern.

"What the hell's gotten into you?" he yelled, watching as her head lolled on the back of the seat.

"Don't start," she said quietly, her eyes closed.

"Christ, it's like dealing with a teenager!"

"I _said_ don't start," she said louder, placing her finger and thumb on the bridge of her nose.

He sighed, wanting to keep venting, but by the look of her, she wouldn't remember any of this in the morning anyway, so he let it drop.

"I'll drive you back to Sarah's," he muttered, but he was pretty sure she could no longer hear him.

* * *

Sarah was curled up on her chair by the fire, her head buried deep in a book that she had barely been able to put down since she'd started reading it. Tonight, however, she couldn't concentrate on the storyline as efficiently as she usually did. It had been a couple of hours since she had sent Cutter to find Jenny, and if she was honest, she expected them back by now. She had no idea if it was a good thing or a bad thing that there was no word from them; either it meant that they had sorted things out and gone back to Cutter's, or that he hadn't managed to track her down yet. She hoped it was the former, as it would be a real shame if they let Brookes come between them. Not that Sarah was bothered about Jenny staying at her place; in fact she quite liked it. Since the attack, Sarah had been slightly on edge herself, and having Jenny around was a massive comfort. That, and the fact that she enjoyed her company meant that in a way, Sarah would be sorry to see her go, but that was selfish - she loved Cutter and Jenny together. They made each other happy, which had a positive effect on the team. Both of them were just those type of people - if they were happy, so was everyone else, but if they were in a mood, then so was everyone else; Sarah supposed it was because they were the sort-of leaders of the group that everyone looked to, and if they were off balance, it filtered down to everyone else.

Sometimes, Sarah just wanted to bang their heads together and tell them to stop being so childish. As an impartial observer, she could see why their relationship worked on the most part, but had the ability to implode at the drop of a hat. They were both two incredibly intelligent, passionate, stubborn individuals who had short tempers and found it difficult to trust anyone. In essence, they were the equivalent of each other. However, it was a bad thing when they argued - neither one of them would back down or apologise for their actions, and neither were willing to compromise, or justify their opinions to the other. The typical cliche applies to their relationship: _'when it's good, it's very very good, but when it's bad . . ._' well when it's bad, the team tend to keep out of the way to avoid either one venting their spleen on them.

This was a difficult situation, however. From what Jenny had explained, it sounds like there had been no argument . . . well not really. It was more a matter of Jenny going through something (Brookes, namely), and Cutter not quite knowing how to handle it. _Men. _However, it was neither of their faults, and yet in a way that made it worse - how was anything ever going to get sorted out if there was no one to apologise?

Since they had visited Brookes in the hospital, Sarah had noticed a rather obvious change in Jenny's behavior. She was screening Cutter's calls, avoiding any conversation about the matter . . . and then there was the drinking. Now, Sarah knew that Jenny could drink as much as the next girl, more so even; they had been on a few nights out that involved way too many cocktails and a rather slippery floor in a club. But now . . . she was drinking _very_ heavily. To block out the pain, perhaps? Whether it was the pain of the bad memories, or the pain of her relationship breakdown, Sarah could only guess, but either way, the girl needed a good wake up call.

Sarah's thought's were stopped by a bang on her front door. Curiously, she put down her book and went to answer it. When she opened the door, she saw Cutter, looking furious, carrying an unconscious Jenny in his arms. Her head rested against his chest, one of her arms were draped around his neck, and the other was hanging awkwardly outwards.

"Where do you want her?" Cutter asked in a monotone voice.

"Erm . . . bedroom," Sarah answered as she recovered from the surprise, pointing in the general direction of her room.

Without another word, Cutter carried her over, and through the gap in the doorway, Sarah saw him place her gently on her bed.

"What happened? Is she alright?" Sarah asked when he returned, looking thoroughly depressed.

"Well I'm guessing that most of her body weight is actually alcohol right now," Cutter mumbled, running her hand over his forehead.

"Right," Sarah said, looking at the floor awkwardly; a tiny part of her felt that Cutter blamed her for it since Jenny was staying at her place.

"Listen, Sarah," Cutter began, looking down at her with sad eyes. "There's something I've been meaning to tell her . . . but the way things are . . . it might be better if you do it."

"What is it?" Sarah asked, perplexed.


	18. The make up

Chapter 18

_BANG!_

Jenny awoke with a start, her head pounding so hard that it made her eyes water. It was morning, and she was in Sarah's bed, still wearing the clothes she was the previous day, and feeling rougher than she had ever felt in her life.

"Well good morning sunshine!" Sarah said loudly, looking highly amused as she lent back against the door that she had just slammed shut. "How's the head?"

"Killing me," Jenny mumbled, pulling the duvet over her head to try and drown out Sarah's voice; she was speaking unusually loud, and Jenny suspected that it was to playfully annoy her.

Jenny felt the mattress lower slightly, and suspected that Sarah had sat down on the bed next to her.

"What's going on with you?" Sarah's said, her voice sounding softer and laced with concern.

Jenny screwed up her eyes against a particularly nasty twinge in her head. This was not something she wanted to talk about; she knew she was acting oddly, but the reason for it was not something she wanted to feel or examine . . . she just wanted to suppress it.

"What?" Jenny replied lamely, her voice muffled under the blanket.

"You know 'what' . . . you're drinking too much," Sarah accused, pulling the duvet away from her face and fixing her with a look of disapproval.

"What? You drink!" Jenny retorted, looking up at her.

"I drink with my friends, not alone in some seedy bar," Sarah reasoned. "And I don't drink myself into a coma either."

"It was hardly a coma - "

"Cutter had to carry you in here, and I mean _literally_ carry you. You were completely gone."

"Look, if you want me to leave, just say so," Jenny snapped, fighting back the urge to be sick.

Sarah shook her head immediately. "I don't want you to leave! I'm just worried about you. You hardly sleep, unless you've drunk yourself into a stupor of course, and you never eat. And you won't talk about the reason why."

"Talking is not going to fix anything, is it? Jenny pointed out quietly.

"Neither is drinking."

Jenny looked back up at her, sighing inwardly. "When I drink, I can't feel. And when I can't feel, I don't think about Brookes, or the attack, or Cutter, or anything. And I like not having to tear myself apart about everything."

Silence followed her words, Sarah looking down at her with her brow furrowed.

"Brookes isn't coming back, you know," Sarah said eventually, so quietly that Jenny almost missed it.

"You don't know that - "

"Yes I do."

Jenny gave her a questioning look, and Sarah shifted uncomfortably.

"I shouldn't really be the one to tell you this . . ." Sarah began.

* * *

Jenny listened with a slightly opened mouth as Sarah explained about her likeness to Brookes's dead fiancee, and the fact that Cutter and Lester had warned him off on pane of life imprisonment.

"But . . . well that doesn't mean he won't come back and risk it anyway," Jenny reasoned after Sarah took a pause in her story.

"Well Cutter seemed pretty confident that he got the message. He said that by the time they left, he was crying and saying sorry, and cradling the picture of his fiancee."

"Wow," Jenny said blankly. "I - I don't really know what to do with that . . ."

And this couldn't be more true. She felt a cocktail of emotions; relief at the fact that it was not her he was interested in after all, anger at the cruel fate that she was in the wrong place at the wrong time to spark his interest, and frustration that she was letting her life slip away from her all because some man had missed his dead partner. But worst of all, she sickeningly felt a wave of sympathy wash over her for the person who had nearly killed her. However, she also felt a spark of pride; yet again, Cutter had rode to her rescue. Not that she relished being the distressing damsel, but she had to admit, it was nice to not feel so alone in this for once.

"I'll tell you what you need to do," Sarah said, reclining on the pillow next to her. "You're going to get up, get a shower, and put some God damn make-up on because you look like hell," she paused as Jenny laughed. "And you're going to go and find Cutter, and do _something _to make it up to him."

"Have I really been that bad?"

"Oh yeah, you've been treating him like crap," Sarah admitted casually.

* * *

Cutter was in his office, buried up to his eyeballs in dreary paperwork that he had been putting off for days. He knew it was important to document each anomaly and the creatures that came through for research purposes, but Lester also had them each writing statements about each occurrence so that an efficient cover story could be concocted when civilians were killed. And that really didn't sit well with him. He knew it was necessary, but he had never believed in censorship, and it took a lot for him to accept that a big part of his job was a cover-up operation. It still made him uncomfortable when he watched Jenny spin the public lies; she was such an expert at it, that even if a T-rex had destroyed Big Ben, he was sure she'd be able to convince the eye witnesses they had seen a plane crash into it. He didn't like watching her work when it came to that area; he had hated the way she engaged in gentle flirtation with any male witnesses to get them to believe her story even when they weren't an item, and he despised it even more now.

He closed his eyes and sighed; thinking about Jenny was just too painful. Any day now, he expected a phone call off her, telling him it was over. She probably would have said it to him last night if she had been in any fit state.

His thoughts were stopped when he heard heels clicking in the corridor outside, steadily getting louder as the person got closer. For a second, Cutter's heart stopped . . . it couldn't be . . . she wasn't supposed to come back until tomorrow . . .

But it was her.

She was dressed rather oddly in a stylish long white coat-mack thing (despite it being boiling outside), which Cutter suspected was because she hadn't been home to collect much of her clothes yet. Her legs were bare, and she wore her standard black heels. The jolt of happiness he had felt upon seeing her dissipated fast as he realised that she was most likely here to dump him. She lent against the doorframe casually and (rather unnecessarily) rapped her knuckles softly on his open door.

"Can I come in?" she asked tentively.

"Of course," Cutter answered shortly, his heart hammering as he tried to focus his eyes on his desk rather than her.

She walked forward, but didn't take a seat, instead she stood a couple of feet in front of his desk, her hands in her pockets.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she said with a frown.

For fleeting moment, Cutter wondered what she was talking about, until he realised that Sarah would have told her about his visit to Brookes by now.

"I couldn't get a hold of you," he mumbled, still trying resolutely not to make eye contact with her.

"If you really wanted to, you could have done," she replied sternly. "You knew were I was."

She took a seat in front of him, crossing her legs as she did so. Cutter gulped and looked away, unwilling to drool over a woman who was about to break up with him; he had more self respect than that. Still, it struck him that neither Helen nor Claudia had had the effect on him that the woman in front of him did; it was like he was under a spell or something.

"Okay," Cutter admitted slowly. "Maybe I didn't want to see you."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her face contort in a hurt look.

"Why?" she asked, sounding slightly stung.

"Because I was sc - " Cutter began, but he stopped himself. He was about to say 'because I was scared you'd break up with me if I saw you', but it sounded too pathetic. He tried again. "I thought you might . . . that you might have reassessed your feelings for me."

"That's never going to happen," she said in a gently voice; at this, his head snapped up, and hope swelled inside him like a balloon. "Why on earth would you think that?" she asked, sounding disappointed that the thought had even entered his mind.

"Well what did you expect me to think?" he retorted. "You run out in the middle of the night and go and stay with Sarah, and stop answering my calls. It doesn't exactly scream happiness to me."

She sighed heavily and leaned back in her chair, jiggling her leg up and down slightly in a way that he'd come to associate with her being nervous.

"I was very confused," she began quietly. "And I _was_ very unhappy . . ." the hope balloon in Cutter's stomach burst at these words. She was _unhappy_ with him. This must have shown on his face, as she quickly went on to explain. "But it's not you! It's never been about you. I've made my feelings for you perfectly clear in the past. This was just something I had to go through."

"I was trying to help - " Cutter insisted, irritated that she felt like she had to go through all of it alone; did she not trust him enough to let him in?

"I know you were," Jenny said gently. "I'm . . . I'm sorry, I know I've been weak - "

"You're not weak Jenny," he said quietly, fingering the edge of a file on his desk.

"Well, I've been doing a brilliant impression of someone who is," she sighed, her eyes studying his face for a reaction.

Cutter, however, could think of nothing to say. He knew she was by no means weak, but she _had_ been having a hard time adjusting lately, and there was no point in pretending otherwise. He watched her as she bit her bottom lip slightly, and looked down at the floor, as though she wanted to say something, but couldn't quite figure out how to say it. Silence floated between them for a few moments.

"I'm thinking of putting my house up for sale," Jenny spoke eventually.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, I'm not comfortable there . . . not anymore anyway. And I can finally give Mark his share of it and get him off my back."

"Right," Cutter nodded, unsure of why she was telling him this now.

"So I'll be looking for another place to live . . ." she continued wistfully. "I can't very well stay cramped in a one-bedroom apartment with Sarah forever."

"Okay . . ."

"So I was thinking . . . that I'm going to move in with you."

Cutter's eyes flew up to meet her's to see if she was joking or not. She looked back at him brazenly, her expression unreadable, although she looked completely serious. Before he could stop himself, Cutter actually laughed aloud; this was Jenny Lewis all over . . . she hadn't fished around for an invite to move in, nor had she _asked_ him what he thought about the situation. She had told him what she was going to do, and that was the end of it. She never ceased to amaze him.

"Did you just invite yourself to live with me?" he asked in amused disbelief.

"Yes," she answered abruptly. "Is that a problem?"

"No," Cutter shook his head, still unable to wipe the smile off his face.

"Good then it's settled," she smirked.

"I guess it is," he agreed.

"How much work have you got to do?" she asked, standing up slowly.

"God, a mound. By the looks of things im going to be here all night," he said, glancing down at his workload.

"Well that's a shame," she sighed dramatically, as she undid the belt of her mack and pulled her coat open. "I'll just go back to your place alone then."

Cutter's jaw nearly dropped to the floor.

Underneath the coat, she was wearing an incredibly short skirt coupled with a black corset, laced with red material. Both were skin tight, both were teasingly revealing, and both were _incredibly_ hot.

"Wow," was all he could manage to say.

She raised her eyebrow at him ruefully. "Am I to take it that you've changed your mind then?"

"Well . . . you do come first . . ." Cutter stuttered, finding it difficult to keep his mind straight.

"I thought you'd say something like that," she smirked.

In a flash, he was on his feet, rounding the desk and pulling her lips onto his. She kissed him back with passion he hadn't felt off her in a long time; her hands were traveling through his hair, and he allowed his to wander over her curves. She pressed her body against his; her kisses needy and full of longing -

The shrill sound of the Anomaly Detector filled the room, making them both jump violently.

"Damn it!" Jenny scowled, placing her forehead on his.

Cutter breathed hard, trying to control his frustration.

"Come on," he breathed eventually, wrenching himself away from her, which was difficult. "You might as well join us now that you're here."

"What?" she asked in disbelief. "Are you joking? Nick, look at me! I'll give poor Conner a heart attack!"

"Just do up you're coat, and no one will know but me," he reasoned, trying and failing to keep the amusement out of his voice.

Jenny scrutinized him for a moment, eyeing him up and down.

"Fine," she said curtly, buttoning up her coat. "But as soon as we get home, it's coming off; don't think you're getting a second viewing," she added, although she wore a reluctant smile.

They both made their way to the main room just as Conner was getting the coordinates.

"It's a local one!" he informed them, turning and smiling as he spotted Jenny. "Hiya! I didn't think we'd be seeing you 'till tomorrow?" he added to her.

"I couldn't stay away from you for that long Conner," Jenny joked, as the three of them walked to the exit.

Conner blushed slightly. "Erm . . . I'll phone Abby and tell her to meet us there," he said, changing the subject, although he looked quite pleased.

They all got in the car; Cutter and Jenny in the front and Conner in the back.

"Aren't you hot in that Jenny?" Conner asked, gesturing at Jenny's coat.

Cutter turned and smiled at her, watching her pull the mack tighter around herself, looking embarrassed.

"No, I - I get cold easily," she stammered, glancing at Cutter and glaring at him for smiling.

"But it's like one of the hottest days in the year today," Conner laughed. "Why don't you just leave it here - ?"

"No!" Cutter and Jenny said in unison.

* * *

**It's overrrrrrrrrr! Relief lol! I hope everyone who read it enjoyed it, and thank you so much to everyone who reviewed!**

**I'll most likely be working on a new fic soon due to sheer boredom of the long 4 month summer holiday, so any ideas would be welcome :)**

**Nikki x **


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